


The problem with marbles

by Fandomnerdiness (joshifine7)



Series: A Little Family [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Age Play, Age Regression/De-Aging, Baby Dean, Cribs, Cuddles, Daddy!Cas, Daddy!Gabe, Diapers, Family of Choice, Gen, Infantilism, Little!Sam, Non-Sexual Age Play, Pacifiers, Sick Dean Winchester, bottles, marbles, play pen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-07-22 19:28:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7451230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joshifine7/pseuds/Fandomnerdiness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Baby Dean eats something he shouldn't have and ends up with a bad tummy ache.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stuck in the playpen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zana_Zira](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zana_Zira/gifts).



> So this is a prompt by Zana_Zira
> 
> Baby Dean eats something he shouldn't have (either a bit of one of the adults' food that's too rich for him or something inedible like a marble or coin or part of one of Sammy's toys) and ends up with a bad tummy ache. Cas and Gabe didn't see him eat whatever it was, so they can't figure out what's causing his poorly tummy, but they do their best to make him feel better with lots of cuddles and belly rubs. Whether it gets bad enough to need a doctor and how it is resolved is up to you, but either way, would love some poorly, pukey Dean getting loved on by his angels and Sammy. :)
> 
> I hope I can do this justice :) Again, things ran away from me a little bit, so we'll see where this goes. Hopefully I'll be getting a lot more writing done soon as I'll be on summer break from work...lots of free time away from my class of little monsters!  
> * Note1: Dean ages to somewhere between 1-2years old, and Sam ages to about 4/5years old. 
> 
> * note 2: Also, Harry Potter is obviously not mine. I used this as the story because - although Dean is a baby, he is actually a grown man, and would enjoy listening to something a bit longer than baby books sometimes. I figure that as long as it is still for kiddies and not tooo scary then Cas would be ok with reading it to his baby.
> 
> * Note 3: when they go to the park later in the fic, it is a private park built for the boys by the Angels. It is near thier house which is in the middle of nowhere and very private so that everyone can go out and have fun while age playing. I set it up in an earlier fic in this verse called "To be the big brother", but you don't need to have read it to enjoy this. 
> 
> Note 4: Explainations for Deans blanket can be found in my fic "The origins of Deans blanket", but again, that does not need to be read to enjoy this story.

Dean was currently sat scowling and splay legged on the soft blanket that had been spread out on the floor of his wooden playpen that had been moved inside the family room and was grumpily stacking blocks on top of each other. Unfortunately, his softer mesh playpen had had to be removed for cleaning. It seemed that Sammy had been running with a glass of milk at some point the previous day and had tripped and spilt it all over the side of the playpen - and not wanting to get into trouble - hadn't told anyone and had left the mess to become sour and stinky. Once it had been discovered, the mesh pen had been whisked away for cleaning and the wooden pen had been hauled inside from its usual outside location. 

None of this however was why he was scowling. No. The reason for that was that he had been confined to the playpen in order to keep him away from Sammy's "big boy toys" that apparently weren't safe for babies. He heavily plonked another block down onto his slowly growing tower.

Ok. Fine. So he had been putting things in his mouth more lately, but that wasn't really a problem. It wasn't like anything could actually hurt him, no matter how much Daddy moaned about icky germs. He didn't even know that he was doing it most of the time anyway. He would be playing with something and then just suddenly it would be in his mouth. Things just got a little drooley sometimes, but no bad things happened. Besides, usually Daddy or Uncle Gabe noticed he had something in his mouth quite quickly and gave him a pacifier instead. No harm done. 

And! And! De knew that when he was a big boy he put things in his mouth all the time too! He knew that when he was big he always chewed on pens or gum or was biting his fingernails or something. So really it was actually even more super unfair that he was confined to baby jail while Sammy got to play wherever he wanted to and with whatever he wanted. 

The next block he forced down toppled the tower, so Dean gave up and scowled around the dark brown wooden bars blocking his view to spot Sammy sat not too far away, apparently engaged with some terribly dangerous big boy toy. It was kinda small so De couldn't really tell what it was that had captured his brother's interest. Didn't care neither. 

It was all Sammy's fault that Dean was stuck here anyway, De thought as he began stacking blocks again. De hadn't even done nothin'! They had been playing with a few of Sammy's soldiers earlier, and while Sammy was setting up some of the men for some kind of battle, De had found himself putting one of the guys in his mouth and chewing a little bit on the man's red and white shield. Of course, when Sammy had looked around he had freaked and had immediately run off calling for his Daddy - complaining the whole while that De was getting tooth marks all over too many of his toys. Next thing De had known, he was being scooped up by Uncle Gabe, having a soldier extracted from his mouth with gentle words of admonition and was being deposited in the playpen for the rest of the morning. 

So. Not. Fair. AND Uncle Gabe hadn't even given him a pacifier or a bottle of juice or nothin. Just left him in the playpen and told him not to put things in his mouth, then gone off again to do whatever boring thing he was off to do. Stupid tattle-tale Sammy had come over to try and talk to De. but De was too mad and so had ignored him and eventually Sammy had left as well, leaving De to his scowling and his blocks. 

Dean wasn't sure just how long this current state of affairs had been going on for, but he was roused from his musing when Uncle Gabe entered the room and walked over to Sammy saying "Hey there Sammy boy! How's things going?"

"Good Daddy. The soldiers managed to capture the dragon but now they need to go get all the treasure" Sammy said, glancing up to where his Daddy now stood before him, surveying the battle scene. 

"Well that’s good. We don't need rogue dragons about stealing all of our treasures do we?" Gabriel congratulated as he squatted down next to his son. He pointed to the objects scattered about the make shift battle field. "What are the marbles for buddy?"

"They are the cannon balls Daddy. The soldiers needed them to shoot the dragon down 'coz they couldn't get close enough to the dragon in case he gotted them on fire or eated them or something" Sammy explained. 

As Gabriel continued to survey the scene before him, he spied many more of the small round balls scattered around the toppled over form of a toy dragon who did indeed appear to be guarding treasure. Evidently the treasure was several pieces of yellow paper that Sammy had cut up - using the child friendly scissors that were discarded carelessly on the floor nearby. Nearby and close to the playpen where he could see a clearly grumpy baby watching them. Although, as soon as he realised that he had been caught watching, said grumpy baby pretended not to have been and turned away, slamming blocks together. Evidently Gabriel had not yet been forgiven. 

Shrugging, Gabriel turned back to his son. "Ah yes, I can see that now Sammy. It looks to have been quite the battle!"

"It was Daddy!" Sammy crowed, delighted that his Daddy could appreciate his game. 

"Well. You have been very busy, and I don't want to stop your fun, but Daddy was thinking of going for a walk for a while. You want to come with me buddy?"

"Yeah!" Sammy cried, leaping to his feet to bounce around his Daddy, who slowly raised himself back to standing. "I wanna go stomp in the puddles Daddy! Can we stomp in the puddles?"

Dean, sensing an opportunity to escape the playpen had abandoned his blocks to crawl to the side of the pen and was kneeling at the side, using the bars to hold himself up. Gabriel - noticing the movement - dealt with his son first. "We sure can Sammy! I'll go dig out your wellies. First though, think you can tidy your toys up a little bit? Don't want someone to trip over all these things do we?"

"Ok Daddy!" Sammy squealed as he dropped to his knees again and began to scoop men up to drop them into the open toy chest in front of him. 

"Great. Thanks buddy. I'll go grab those boots. Come find me when you're done?" Gabriel praised as he ran a hand over his son's head. Gaining the confirming "Kay Daddy!", Gabe moved over to the side of the playpen where he could see the eager green eyes of his nephew peering at him. 

"Hey there sweatpea!" he greeted, stroking a hand over the head of the baby who was kneeling up and looking at him pleadingly. "Having a nice time?"

Ignoring the stupid question, Dean went straight for what he wanted - lifting his arms up and asking "Please? Out? Please?"

"Sorry little man. I'd break you out if I could, but your Daddy has plans for you and I'm not interrupting."

Redoubling his efforts and making grabby hands up at his Uncle, De tried again. "Out! Please!"

"No can do baby boy. I'm going to take Sammy out of here for a little while and we'll see you later. Hang tight and your Daddy will be here in a little bit" Gabriel soothed with another stroke of the sandy hair and before Dean could do anything else Gabe turned away and made his way out of the room calling back "Come find me when you're done Sammy!"

Put out that he was - still - stuck in the playpen, Dean let out a grumpy whine to let his displeasure be known and stretched a hand through the bars to ineffectually reach in the direction his uncle had disappeared in. This prompted his brother to look over at him from where he had been haphazardly shoving toys into a pile. 

"I'm sorry you're stuck in there De, but you shouldn't have eated my toys. I'll let you play with them later when I get back though kay?" Sammy appealed to his little brother as he grabbed an armful of his toys to lift into the toy chest. As he did so, several soldiers and quite a few marbles fell from his arms to skitter and bounce across the floor in every direction imaginable. 

Too excited by his impending trip, Sammy just reached out to collect the few items that had scattered nearby him, but ignored the rest of them, figuring that he would collect them when he got back. Dropping the last few toys in the box, Sammy took one last look at his brother who was looking his way longingly and said "I'll see you soon De. Try not to be sad!" and whirled away to go and find his Daddy and be off for splashing adventures. 

With that rapid swirl of action, Dean was left alone in the playpen and now the family room staring out from behind the bars. Flopping backwards onto his bottom with a disgruntled huff, De surveyed the empty room despondently, wondering just how long he was going to be stuck before his Daddy came to get him and trying to think of something to do to pass the time until then. 

As he looked around the floor of the playpen and surveyed the toys he had been left with, something sparkled in the corner of his eye. Something was twinkling just outside of the playpen - what was it? Whatever it was was hiding just out of sight behind one of those blasted bars!

Crawling over to the side of the pen again, Dean discovered that the shiny object was in fact a green and blue glass marble that had conveniently landed in a ray of sunlight causing it to twinkle. One must have rolled all the way near to the playpen from where Sammy had dropped them earlier. 

Aha! That was more like it! Something cool! Dean could have it and show everyone that he could play with Sammy's big boy toys! He just needed to reach it. Easing his hand through the bar and reaching out as far as he could De stretched his arms and found the rest of him squished right up against the side as he tried to get his prize. Stretching…stretching…aaaand….success!

De closed his hand around his prize and brought it towards him, having to thread his arm back through the bars before he flopped back on his bottom again to get a good look at his treasure. 

Holding the marble out in his flat palm to examine it. The small glass bead had swirls of dark blue and a lighter green colour going all the way through. There were also cool little air bubbles in the middle. It was awesome! Dean used a finger to roll the marble about on his palm, enjoying the smooth and cool sensation on his skin. 

After his initial examination, De realised that he was still pretty stuck in the playpen, so still needed to find something to do. Something with the marble seeing as he had that now. The blocks were still quite good fun, he thought, looking over his toys. Maybe, given he had a treasure now, he should make a secret hiding place so that no one could take it away! Good idea De he thought to himself. 

Holding the marble in one hand, De once again began gathering blocks and placing them in a specific rectangular pattern in order to make a box. As he got absorbed in his play, De would roll the marble about in the palm of his hand. Eventually, that hand snuck up to rub the small ball against one freckled cheek. After even more time, when the wall of De's structure had become higher, the marble slipped inside of Dean's mouth, where it got rolled around by a tongue that had gotten used to suckling at something. This state of affairs continued for a while. Dean was deeply involved in his construction and was absent minded sucking on the small marble. 

Suddenly, however, De was startled from his deep concentration by his Daddy's voice coming from nearby calling "Hey there baby boy! You look very busy!"

Gasping at being so suddenly interrupted, De accidently sucked in his marble and, coughing violently - swallowed it. 

Rushing over, scooping his boy out of the playpen and into his arms, Castiel began to gently pat the coughing baby on the back. "Oh baby! I didn't mean to scare you! I'm sorry sweetheart, cough it all out, cough it all out. There you go." Castiel was totally unaware that Dean had just swallowed a marble, and thought that his baby was just coughing due to being startled. 

Having his concentration shifted so suddenly by his Daddy and his harsh coughing fit, De completely forgot what had caused it in the first place. He just clung onto his Daddy as he fought to keep his coughs under control and to keep air going into his lungs. Eventually however, due to his Daddy's ministrations, Dean caught his breath and got his coughs under control and ended up sagging exhaustedly in his Daddy's arms. 

"There you go baby boy, there you go. All better huh?" Castiel soothed as he felt De settle in his arms. "Did Daddy scare you?"

"Yeah Daddy!" Dean scowled at the angel holding onto him. 

"Oh I'm sorry baby. You looked very busy. What were you building?"

Twisting slightly to point down at the half completed rectangular structure Dean answered "Treasure box Daddy!"

"A treasure box? Awesome! Are you going to put your car and blue blanket in there?" Castiel asked, pleased that Dean was in such a chatty mood. He had heard from his brother that Dean had been quite grumpy, so he was pleased to find such a cheerful boy. 

Looking thoughtfully down at his creation, De nodded, murmuring "Yeah!". That hadn't been a bad idea actually! He was pretty sure that he could get blanket to fit in there if he just moved that block a little bit…

Though De's musings were interrupted by his Daddy's next comment. "So you've been having a good time then yeah?"

That. That was just silly and Daddy needed to be corrected. Twisting so that he was looking straight at his Daddy again, De placed a hand on either side of his angel's face to ensure that the man was looking and taking him seriously as he said a very serious "No!"

Chuckling - which in hindsight was the wrong thing to have done, given the scowl he received in return Castiel said "Oh really? Because it looked like you were having a great time De…"

Needing to make his point further, De pointed firmly into the playpen and very clearly said "No! No Daddy!"

Pretending that everything had suddenly become clear, Castiel sympathised. "AH, you didn't have fun in the playpen huh?"

"No!" came the firm reply. 

"Well I'm sorry sweetheart, but it is the best place for you sometimes, even if you don't think so. Daddy's just trying to keep you safe. Besides, you did look like you were having an awful lot of fun in there."

Crossing his arms to sulk, De quietly huffed "No!" again. 

Chuckling again, and placing a kiss on his boy's forehead, Castiel turned away from the playpen and started to cross the room saying "Well it doesn't matter anyway. Come on sweetheart. Uncle Gabe and Sammy have gone out so we are going to have some Daddy and De time right now. Sound good?"

Dean just nodded his head from where he had laid it down on his Daddy's shoulder - content to let his Daddy take control and happy to see what was planned for next. As his Daddy began to climb the stairs, De raised a hand to his mouth and slipped a thumb in to suck at it slowly. 

Dean wasn't overly surprised when the next time he looked around it was as he was being lowered down onto the changing table. He had felt his Daddy do a diaper check not to long ago - and although he wasn't actually sure what the state of his diaper was - he wouldn't be shocked if he needed to have a change. Daddy always liked to get it out of the way before they got on with other things - not wanting De to have a hurty or wet bottom from being in a dirty diaper too long. 

As Castiel began to tug down his trousers and free De's legs he chatted "So then baby. I figure we'll get you all comfy and dry in a new diaper and then we'll have some nice snuggles and story time. Does that sound good?"

De nodded once more around his thumb as he listened to his Daddy chatter away quietly while he worked. In short order De was all cleaned up and taped into a dry diaper and was being pulled off of the changing table to stand on the floor beside it. His Daddy kept a hand on him until he was stood on his feet steadily. Looking questioningly at his Daddy's face, De pointed at his bare legs, asking silently why his trousers weren't replaced. 

"I thought we'd leave them off for a while sweetie. We're going to be cuddling up in a minute and I don’t want you to get too hot" came the answer, to which De screwed his face up to make his displeasure known, but did not argue. Smiling at the look he was given, Castiel prompted "It's fine little man. Trust Daddy. Now. Go and choose a story, then we can sit together on the rocking chair for a while."

Cas smiled as he watched his baby hesitate for just a moment, before toddling off in the direction of the bookcase, thumb still stuck firmly in his mouth. It really did make an adorable sight - his little man clad only in a t-shirt and diaper, crouching down to look over the selection of books available in the nursery. It didn't happen often, but Cas did like to see those bow legs bare and on show - parted even more by the bulk of the diaper. With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Castiel settled himself in the rocking chair to make himself comfortable. 

In all honesty, Castiel did have ulterior motives for this Daddy and De time. He had asked Gabe to take Sammy out for a little walk so that the house might be quiet for a while. This calm time - cuddles, a story and the offer of the warm bottle that was waiting just out of sight on the side table was all meant to ease the stubborn baby known as Dean off into a nap. Castiel was desperate to get the boy to sleep more, but sometimes it really was a battle to get his little one off to sleep. He just hoped that De hadn't quite caught onto the plan just yet. 

Roused from his musings by the form of his baby stood before him offering a book, Castiel reached up to snag his boy by the waist and to drag him down onto his lap. Tucking the boy into a reclining position, he looked over the choice presented to him. 

"Harry Potter? Good choice De. Can you remember where we got to?" Castiel approved, opening the book up as De squirmed to a more comfy position. 

De looked up and showed his Daddy five fingers from the hand not tucked up to his mouth.

"Chapter five? Alright then. Are you comfy baby? Let's start then" Castiel said as he began reading and at the same time kicked off the rocking chair with his feet. 

Not too long later, as Cas felt De sag against him even more, he offered the next part of his plan. Pausing just for a moment in the reading, Castiel snagged the bottle and - not looking directly at his boy - offered the drink. 

"Here baby. Have a drink, you look thirsty" and without pause, he carried on reading. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Cas saw De startle a little bit and give a dirty look to the bottle he had been presented with. However, he was sucked back into the story once more, and - almost against his will - eventually found himself accepting the nipple of the bottle into his mouth to suckle gently. 

Plan coming together, Cas just smiled to himself as he kept reading and gave himself over to support De as the boy sagged against him more and more in relaxation. Eventually, he subtly angled De so that he was now cradled across his lap and so that he could hold the bottle for his boy so that it was easier to drink from. All the while he kept up his calming reading and rocking of the chair. 

Not too much longer and Castiel found that his boy's eyes were coming to rest closed more often than not and decided to just finish with the plan. Stopping reading, he folded down the corner of the page he was on to mark his place and carefully placed the book on the side table. He also eased the teat of the bottle away from lax lips, only gaining a small whine of protest. Luckily, he had also prepared for this, and quickly replaced the bottle with a nearby pacifier. 

As the pacifier was accepted, Castiel brought the rocking chair to a gentle stop and rose slowly with De in his arms and began to make his way over to the waiting crib. 

As he knew it would, the movement roused De slightly, and the baby raised his head to look around - whining when he realised their destination. Cas knew that he was too good though. His baby was too far gone. 

Laying the baby carefully among the multitude of soft blankets, and with a very hushed voice Castiel soothed "I know. I know baby. Mean Daddy tricking you into a nap. But you're such a tired baby. So so sleepy. So sleepy. Go to sleep sweet boy. Daddy will be here when you wake up. Just drift away. off you go."

As Castiel spoke, he saw De fight ever so futilely against the sleep that had now claimed him. A few more murmurs from Cas and the poor boy was away. 

Standing back, Castiel surveyed his work, and was very pleased that his plan had come to fruition. One sleeping baby down for his nap. Success! He stroked one hand across the warm freckle dusted cheek of his boy, then backed away and raised the side of the crib - flicking on the monitor as he did so. 

Making his way to the nursery door, Castiel called back "Have a peaceful sleep baby. We'll have a fun time this afternoon, I promise" and then eased the door closed. 

Castiel did not know just how fun his afternoon would turn out to be.


	2. Naptime and catching up with Sammy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While De has a nap, Castiel potters in the kitchen and finds out what his brother and nephew have been up to

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is basically shameless fluff before I attempt to move on with the main story. I really like the basic domestic stuff as it makes me feel all warm and happy - so this is just what this is.   
> Although I like to write about De best, I do like having a go at little sammy too. So - have some shameless filler while we wait for De to wake up from his nap.

About an hour or so into Dean's nap, Castiel found himself pottering about the kitchen and buttering slices of bread in preparation to make sandwiches. He was currently enjoying the stillness of the room and was listening to the gentle puffs of breath and occasional shuffling movements of his sleeping baby that came over the baby monitor safely located on the kitchen counter before him. 

The serenity of the atmosphere was broken however by loud screeching giggles coming rapidly towards him, followed by the sound of a softer yet stern voice calling "Sammy! Quietly! You'll wake the baby!"

Turning to face the door, Castiel was greeted by the sight of an out of breath giggling Sammy. A rain coat and wellington-boot clad out of breath giggling Sammy, who was seemingly covered head to toe in mud and who was dripping in to a steadily growing puddle onto the kitchen floor. 

Before he could comment, Gabriel entered the kitchen a fond look of total exasperation covering his face. Gabriel, evidently, had taken a moment to strip of his coat and boots and was now in the process of gently scolding his dripping boy. 

"Sammy! What happened to that discussion we had outside where I asked you to come in the house quietly and to wait by the door so that I could get you out of those wet things? Look at you! And the floor is covered!"

"Needed to see Uncle Cas Daddy!" Sammy giggled unabashedly. 

"And that couldn't wait two minutes? If you woke the baby up, I'm giving you the job of stopping him from crying all afternoon buddy. How we doing on that Cas?" Gabriel asked, breaking away from his scolding to glance at his younger brother. Despite attempting to look stern, Castiel could see the spark of amusement in his brother's eyes. He obviously found his boy's actions utterly hilarious. 

"We seem to be safe so far" Castiel commented, glancing back at the quiet monitor. "You two certainly seem to have had fun."

"Yeah! We jumped in ALL the puddles Uncle Cas!" Sammy started to enthusiastically say, bouncing on his feet in his excitement and unfortunately wriggling away from where his Daddy was attempting to strip him of his jacket. "It was so splashy an' an' an' then Daddy jumped in a really big puddle and mud got all on my coat, but I jumped in some too and Daddy got all wet too so it was all fair." 

"Stand still buddy, I don’t want you to slip" Gabriel cautioned, now from the floor as he knelt to pull off his son's boots.

Sam just continued to ramble at his Uncle who, by now, had retrieved several clean dish towels and was attempting to dry the boy's dripping hair. "And after Daddy splashed me again I ran away and I hided behind a tree guess what Uncle Cas?! Guess what! Daddy found me and he jumped at me and said "Boo!" and I jumped and had to run away again!"

"Wow sounds awesome buddy!" Cas cheered with a final rub at semi dry hair.

"Yeah it was pretty awesome" Gabriel agreed as he climbed to his feet "but now, I think we should go get properly cleaned up before lunch time. I don't know about you Sammy, but all the splashing made me hungry." 

"Yeah! Yeah! Me too Daddy! I'm gonna go get clean right now!" Sammy exclaimed, rushing out of the room, still completely hyped up.

"Quietly Sammy! Don't forget you're dealing with De if you wake him up!" Gabe called after his son's rapidly retreating form. Turning to Cas he said "I better go catch up to him before he tears the house apart. Sorry about the puddle Cas - do you mind getting it?"

Chuckling, Castiel just dropped his remaining towels and began to mop up. "No problem. Go get your boy."

Flashing a grateful smile as he began heading out of the room Gabriel passed on his thanks and then added "We'll be back in a flash. And don't think I didn't notice that you were messing around with the food. Back away Cassie! You know the rules…no food preparation without me!"

"Shut up assbutt" Cas flung at his laughing brother's back, but continued smiling as he quickly took care of the puddle and wet footprints tracking across the floor. Job done, he disposed of the wet towels before washing his hands and pulling sandwich items and condiments from the fridge. As he didn't know what people would want in their sandwiches, Castiel began to chop up carrots and cucumbers into sticks as an accompaniment. 

As he was doing this, Castiel picked up slightly more noise coming from the baby monitor. In addition to the snuffly breaths came slightly more sounds of his baby moving about and rustling his blankets, as well as the occasional faint moan. De was probably dreaming and would likely be waking shortly. Though if the moans became more frequent, Castiel would go up to see what was happening. 

Gabriel snatching a pack of deli meat out of his hands brought him out of his thoughts. 

"Back away from the food items!" came the command, "Make yourself useful and get drinks or set the table or guard my boy or something. Something where you cannot cause severe amounts of damage to your beloved family members. Go! Go!"

Giving up and moving to the fridge to collect jugs of water and juice to place on the table, Cas couldn't help but respond "I'm fairly sure I can handle making a sandwich Gabriel."

"Yes. But why take that chance?" Gabe shot back, firing a wicked grin in his direction. 

Sammy, from his place now sat at the table raised his hands to cover his mouth as he giggled at the adult's antics. Deciding to take the higher path, Cas just ignored his brother and addressed his nephew. "Which cup would you like Sammy? And would you like juice or water?"

Smiling up at the angel looking down at him, Sammy asked "Can I have the Captain America cup please Uncle Cas? And can I please have juice in my cup?"

"Such nice manners, of course you can" Castiel said as he retrieved the plastic cup and began to pour the required beverage. 

The small family continued preparations for lunch and chatted quietly to each other - teasing comments flying. Gabriel was just bringing plates of sandwiches over to the table when soft cries broke through on the baby monitor. 

"I swear that boy has some form of psychic ability to detect when food is ready" Gabe commented as he placed down Sammy's plastic avengers plate before him. It contained four triangles of chicken and avocado salad sandwich and several vegetable sticks. 

"How does he know Daddy?" Sammy asked, gasping in amazement at the sounds coming from the direction of the counter. 

"I just don't know little man. Maybe your brother's magic?" Gabriel mused. 

Sighing at their nonsense, Castiel stood from his place saying "He's been grumbling for the last ten minutes at least. You knew he was waking up guys."

"Yeah, but as soon as we sat down to eat the cries started. It's like he knew he was missing out. You have to admit it's freaky Cas" Gabe teased. 

"Whatever" Cas replied. "I'm going to collect my son. Go ahead and start on your lunch. We'll be back momentarily." And with that he went off to collect his baby. 

============================================

In the nursery, Dean had been awake for quite a while. He had been woken up when a loud banging noise and giggles suddenly broke through the quiet permeating the house and his nursery. Although suddenly awake, De did not get up, being too sleepy. He just turned over in his many blankets and tried to slip back into the cosy warmth of his nap. 

He tried for a while, occasionally squirming about to make himself comfortable. His tummy was feeling uncomfortable and he wanted to get comfy again so he could go to sleep. 

When he couldn't find a comfy spot he let out a very small whine of frustration. It wasn't helped by the fact that at some point he had lost his pacifier. He rooted around without opening his eyes until he found it and stuffed it hurriedly back into his mouth, sucking it frantically for a moment until he settled into a slow and steady rhythm. 

His tummy really wasn't feeling nice now though. There were lots of grumbly feelings going on and also some sharp pains every so often. De really didn’t like it and he just really wanted to be back to sleep. He let out some more soft moans of discomfort. 

De tried really really hard to keep napping, 'coz it was quite warm and cozy in his crib. After naps he never could remember why he didn't like going down for them. Screwing his eyes up, De focused hard on making his tummy stop hurting, but it just wasn't working. 

Eventually after a particularly big grumble and a big pain in his tummy, De gave up. He wasn't going back to sleep even though he was tired. Giving into his frustration, De sat up in his crib - wincing at another pang of discomfort and began to cry. It wasn't very loud, as he was being muffled by his pacifier, but he did cry as he really did feel horrible now. 

De really wanted the owies to stop now. 

After a couple of minutes of his quiet crying, De heard noise coming from the other side of the room. Looking over - through watery eyes - De saw what was quite possibly the best sight he had ever seen. 

De saw his Daddy easing open the door of his nursery and peering a head around it until his eyes landed straight on De. 

Relief flooded through De. How did Daddy always manage to turn up just when De needed him? How did he know to come just when De started crying? It was like magic. Daddy really really must be magic. It was the only explanation. 

As Castiel took his first step into the nursery, De climbed up onto his knees and threw his arms up and out, demanding that his Daddy pick him up right now. 

De's Daddy - of course - complied.


	3. Lunchtime battles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's lunch time and De doesn't want to eat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get out and sorry it kind of ran away from me again. Still pretty much just fluff, but stuff will start to happen next chapter.....which I hope to begin writing later today or tomorrow.

Castiel strode across the room and snatched up his weeping baby from the crib and up into his arms. Occasionally De would wake up crying softly - especially if he thought he had been left alone for some reason or had been having some bad dreams. 

"Hey there sweet boy. Don't cry. Come on. I'm here. I'm here. It's all ok" he crooned as he swayed around the room, rocking his baby gently in his arms. 

Dean, for his part allowed himself to sink into his Daddy's arms and accepted the comfort that was being provided. A short while later, as his tears dried up, De realised that being pressed up against the warmth of his Daddy was helping the owies in his tummy a little bit. He sighed in relief around his pacifier and rested his head down onto his Daddy's shoulder. 

Castiel placed a gentle kiss to his son's temple as he held the relaxed boy in his arms. "Hey there baby. You all better now? Have a good nap?" he asked very quietly, not really able to see De's face, but he heard and felt the soft sleepy sigh that brushed passed the mouth guard of his son's pacifier.

De didn't feel like answering as he was basking in the calm sensations his Daddy was producing. He had had quite a good sleep until his tummy had started hurting and he was still feeling pretty sleepy. If Daddy could just keep the tummy hurts away then he was pretty sure he could drift back off. 

That was not the plan though evidently as his Daddy kept talking, making his voice all upbeat. "Sorry baby. I know you're sleepy, but guess what! It's lunch time! Let's go see what Uncle Gabe made for you huh?"

Before Dean could comment, Castiel was walking off out of the nursery and making his way down the stairs. Knowing there was little he could do, De just clung on tight as he was carried and just kept his eyes closed and continued to rest his head on the firm shoulder underneath him. 

Before he knew it though, De heard the gentle chatter of his uncle and brother as they entered the kitchen. Still keeping his eyes closed as they moved he heard them greeting him.

"Hi De! It's lunchtime! Daddy made you a sandwich!"

"Ah there he is! Still sleepy buddy?"

Next though, Dean found himself being lowered down onto something cool and firm and something was being wrapped around him. Prying his eyes open and glancing about, he squirmed and began to whine as he discovered that Daddy had put him in the highchair! How could he! Daddy knew De didn't like going in the highchair!

"Ah! No! No Daddy! Up!" he demanded, once again flinging out his arms and demanding to be picked up - just avoiding the tray that was being clicked into place around his waist.

"Ah ah. It's lunch time baby. Sit in your chair, it'll be much easier for you to eat from there De, I promise" Castiel cautioned as he finished fiddling with the tray before him. 

"No Daddy! Sit with you!" De pleaded, spitting out his pacifier as he did so. He still had a hand out to reach for his Daddy, but raised one up to scrub at his eye. 

"Aw you're so mean Cas! Can't you see he's still sleepy?" Gabriel teased as he watched the father and son interact. 

"That's me. Mean Daddy. But it really will be easier for him to eat if he's in there" Cas said as he placed a bottle of water down in front of his boy and reached out a hand to rub over his son's sleep warmed hair. "Where's his lunch anyway?"

"Here, you sit and I'll get it. I've finished mine anyway" Gabriel said as he rose and walked over to the counter and uncovered a plate that had been previously covered up. 

"Yeah! Daddy made you a sandwich De!" Sammy piped up, trying to help from where he had been sat watching his little brother who by now was ineffectually tugging at the straps keeping him sat in the highchair with one hand while the other was still scrubbing at his eye. "He made it all special for you while you was asleep! And when you eat it then we can go play together!"

"That's a nice offer Sammy" Cas said from where he took his place between the highchair and where his nephew was sitting. "You look like you're enjoying your lunch anyway."

"It's so scrummy Uncle Cas!" Sammy cheered as he took another bite from one of his triangles, inadvertently smearing avocado across his cheek.

"Glad you think so dude!" Gabriel said as he returned to the table, "I just hope your little brother thinks so too. You know your brother told me this was your favourite De. I hope he was right." Gabriel placed several small cut up pieces of sandwich and several veggie sticks on the tray before his nephew. 

De, realising that he was not getting out of the dreaded contraption, sank back in his seat and slouched as much as he was able against the straps holding him in place. He HATED the highchair. He scowled out at his assorted family members who all seemed to want to ignore his protests, but, just in case they didn't realise just how serious he was he tried one more time grumping "De wants out! No highchair!"

"We know little man. We know. But look! Food!" Gabriel tried, pointing out the pieces of beef and tomato sandwich that were now scattered about on the tray. 

"Leave him alone Gabe" Castiel interrupted softly after swallowing his current bite of sandwich, "Like you said, he's still very sleepy. Let him wake up a bit more first."

"Fine!" Gabriel sighed explosively before dropping back down into his seat, but not before swiping the avocado mush off of his own son's face with a cheeky grin and licking it off of his own fingers.

"Daaaaddy!" came the squealed protest.

"What?! It's my job to keep you clean you mucky pup!"

"It's icky Daddy!" Sammy protested weakly, smiling shyly at his Daddy before taking another bite of sandwich. 

De watched all of this happen from his slouched position and yawned widely. That pain in his tummy was starting to make itself known again. He really didn't want to eat any food. He did however snatch up his bottle and stick that into his mouth, and gave it a very small suck - mostly just to chew on the nipple now in his mouth. As he held the bottle to his mouth with one hand, the other crept up to once again fist at his eyes. 

All that could be heard for a few minutes was the contented sound of eating and drinking as the small family enjoyed their meals. This was broken however by Castiel reaching over to gently nudge the bottle his son was chewing on, saying "Come on baby boy. That's for drinking, not for chewing. Either have a drink or have something to eat please. Don't chew on your bottle."

De frowned as his bottle was disturbed, but swiftly grabbed it with both hands and tipped it up so that the water filled the teat that he began to slowly suckle at. The cool water he was drinking served to wake him up a little bit more, but eventually he had enough and he put the bottle down on the tray in front of him. Although the water had woken him up, it had also drawn his attention back to his tummy that was complaining at him again. He could feel it gurgling and he didn't like it. 

De glanced down at his pieces of sandwich and vegetables but didn't really feel like eating so he looked out around the kitchen to see how long it might be before he could escape the dreaded highchair. He knew that there was no chance of him leaving until everybody else had finished lunch. Daddy was still munching away at his sandwich and while Sammy still had a little bit of sandwich on his plate, he was currently chomping away at carrot sticks as was Uncle Gabe. Looked like it might not be too much longer. 

However, Castiel had other ideas. "Eat up some sandwich please baby. It's yummy!"

"No!" De attempted to slouch further, but the straps of his chair kept him firmly in place. 

"Yes please De. You need something to eat so you have enough energy to play".

De's tummy was really starting to ache now and it was making him even more grumpy. "No!"

Cas just sighed and placed his sandwich back down on his plate as he looked firmly at his son and asked gently "Do you need Daddy to help you?" and started to reach for one of the pieces of his son's lunch. 

"Nooo!" De whined, and pushed his Daddy's hand away from where it was reaching and attempted to squirm away at the same time. 

"Uncle Cas, why isn't De eatin' his lunch?" came the soft quiery from somewhere in the kitchen. 

"Shh buddy, don't interrupt. Let Uncle Cas sort your brother out ok. Here, want some more carrots?" came the reply from somewhere else De couldn't see as he had by now screwed his eyes up. 

A sigh came from somewhere closer by and De peeked out to see his Daddy looking at him expectantly. "De, either you eat some sandwich on your own, or Daddy will feed you. Which one baby?"

"No Daddy!" De complained as he pushed again at his Daddy's hand.

"Alright then De, but you need to start eating please," Castiel said as he settled back in his seat, but continued to give his son an expectant look. Only once De had relucantly plucked up a piece of sandwich and smooshed it into his mouth did Cas once again pick up his own sandwich and resume eating, commenting "Good boy De" as he did so. 

De did admit that it tasted good, but he really didn't want to put anything else in his tummy. What would be really nice would be to either go back to his nap, or have some cuddles. And he wanted blue blanket. He was pretty sure that would make everything better. De shifted about in his highchair, attempting to find a position that would ease the ache building in his tummy, frowning as he did so. 

De didn't realise that he had zoned out as he finished his bite of sandwich and that he was once again the centre of attention as he had stopped eating again. He looked up again as he sensed movement and as his Daddy said "Ok then baby, it looks like you want Daddy to help you."

"Noo! No Daddy!" De protested as he put his hands up to block any movement from his Daddy and turning away as much as he was able to do so. However, his protests were cut off from a cheerful request from his Uncle. 

"Let me try Cassie. You sit and finish your food, I'll sort the baby out".

De peered out of one eye to see his smiling Daddy waved his permission for Uncle Gabe to try and then was fully drawn out of his hiding to watch wairily as the older angel drew his chair closer to the highchair. He didn't take his eyes off of the angel even as he heard Daddy strike up a conversation with Sammy in the background. 

The trouble with Uncle Gabe was that he was unpredictable. You never knew what he was going to do. Daddy at least did what was expected, but you didn't know what Uncle Gabe was going to do next, and that was what made him dangerous. 

De continued to watch the angel warily as Uncle Gabe examined the piece of the sandwich he held in his hand. "Now De", the angel said seriously, "Are you going to eat this sandwich like a good boy, or am I going to have to get creative?"

De clamped his mouth shut and tried to lean backwards away from where Uncle Gabe was now holding a piece of the sandwich in front of his mouth. But no matter which way he turned his head, Uncle Gabe's hand and the piece of sandwich followed his mouth closely. Sammy was giggling at them, but De never took his eyes off of his tricky Uncle. 

Soon, a twinkle appeared in Gabriel's eyes as he grinned at the squirming baby before him. "Ok then little man. Time's up. Here it comes!"

Gabriel raised his free hand up above his head and wiggled his fingers about before gradually lowering the hand until it disappeared lower than the highchair's tray table. De leaned forward in order to try and see where the wiggling fingers had gone when suddenly something was tickling him behind his knees! De only had a second to gasp in surprised laughter before a piece of sandwich was popped into his mouth. Mission accomplished, Gabriel raised both hands above his head and cheered "Success!", which was then accompanied by happy laughs and cheers from the other two occupants of the room. De, having no other option, began to chew the food in his mouth, giving a grudging smile to the exuberated angel before him. 

This did not stop him from refusing the next bite of sandwich offered to him however. So, the cycle of refusing food and then being tickled until he accidentally opened his mouth in order for his uncle to pop the food in continued. This cycle was made much easier for Gabriel by the fact that Dean still wasn't wearing any trousers and so he had lots of access to a large amount of ticklish skin. 

After not too long however, the combination of food and the laughter that was being forced out of him became too much for De and his tummy was really making itself known. As more sandwich was pushed on him, De's whines became stronger, as did his efforts at pushing away the food offered to him. Eventually however he whined so much that he was close to tears and the adults around him did pay attention. 

"Alright. Alright baby. All done. You've done very well little man, you don't have to eat any more. Why don't you have a little drink though huh?" Gabriel said as he stopped feeding the baby and instead began to clear the remaining food off of the highchair tray. 

De, not wanting to give his uncle more opportunity to force food on him did grab hold of the bottle and gave a few small sucks of water before just holding the bottle in his mouth - ever so gently sucking on the nipple like how he would with a pacifier. He was completely worn out now and feeling very uncomfortable, so he slouched once again in his seat and let the straps support him as he relaxed.

"How much did he eat?" Castiel asked as he observed his son. He and Sammy had thoroughly enjoyed watching the angel v baby lunch battle, trading opinions over who would win each round, or giving tips as to where best to tickle De. 

"Probably ate just over half of the sandwich" Gabe said as he came back around to the table, kissing De on the top of his head as he passed, before scooping Sammy up onto his hip and tickling his sides softly causing large giggles. 

"That's not too bad. Thank you Gabriel" Cas said as he moved towards his own son. 

"No problem-o little bro. Thank you for entertaining the monkey!" Gabriel grinned from where he was now tipping Sammy backwards before tugging him back up again, still causing peals of laughter and a cry of "I'm not a monkey Daddy!"

"Go on you two before you break something" Castiel shooed them away, "De and I will join you in a minute."

Chuckling at the antics of the other pair as they headed towards the family room, Castiel turned his attention back to his little boy who was been sat quietly watching the action while ever so softly suckling at the nipple of his bottle. Cas thought he looked a little pale, but decided that he was probably just worn out from his hectic lunch. 

"Come on sweetheart. You did very well eating for Uncle Gabe. Let's get you out of there now."

De just watched as his Daddy unhooked the tray around his lap and then began to unhook the straps that were holding him in place. As his Daddy lifted him onto his hip, he let go of his bottle with one hand, to hook an arm around his Daddy's neck, though he managed to keep the bottle in his mouth with the other hand. 

"That better baby?" Cas asked as he felt his baby relax against him - relishing in the feel of having his son snake a warm arm around his neck. Not receiving an answer, Cas just bounced his baby once softly - missing the wince this provoked in the baby - and began to head out of the kitchen. "Let's go see what the terrible two are up to huh? he commented as he walked. 

Once they got to the family room, Cas shook his head at the sight of his older brother and nephew rolling about on the floor wrestling, and settled down in the rocker - adjusting his baby to lay comfortably cradled in his arms. "What will we do with them huh De?" he asked, as he kicked off the rocker, watching the action in front of him fondly.


	4. Things get worse for De

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> De is having a nice time chilling out with his Daddy, then things start to get worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spent all day writing, and once again things fleshed out a little more than I thought. Originally the family were supposed to get to the park in this chapter, but it looks like that'll be for the next one. Plot does begin to happen though....I think. Ah well, as long as people don't mind the domestic type stuff I suppose it doesn't matter. Please let me know what you think though!

Dean was feeling fairly content. 

Here he was, cradled in his Daddy's arms rocking back and forth and enjoying a cuddle on a lazy day. 

After the torture that lunchtime had proved to be, it was nice just to have some time to be still and quiet. When Daddy had settled them in the rocking chair, he had helped De to have a little bit more water from his bottle before De had spat the nipple out. Then, he had just made De as comfortable as possible and they settled back to watch Gabriel and Sammy mess about on the carpet. 

First, the pair had continued their wrestling match and there had been tonnes of screeching giggles and many, many appeals for help. Mostly from Gabriel. They went along the lines of "Cas! Caaaaasss! Help me! The Sammy monster is getting me! Help me you traitor! Cas! You're supposed to listen to your big brother you know! Caaaaaaaasssssssssssiiiieeeeeee!"

Cas of course had just continued watching and rocking, laughing happily at the two rolling around on the floor - occasionally commenting to De about how silly they were. 

Gabriel was obviously being gentle with his boy and was mostly letting Sammy win and eventually, Sammy ended up pinning his Daddy to the floor and sitting on his stomach in victory.

After a brief respite where Sammy had collapsed completely on top of his Daddy in a sprawled cuddle, Gabriel started a new game. "Captain Sammy, are you ready to fly?"

Sammy, obviously recognising the game had squealed in delight and sat bolt upright on top of his Daddy again shouting "Yeah Daddy! Flying! I want to fly!"

"Prepare for take off!" Gabriel cried as he lifted Sammy under the armpits to dangle above his head and then raised his legs to help balance and support the boy above him. 

Sammy flung his arms out to the sides and began making airplane noises "Neeeeaaaaawwww! Neeeeeaaaaaawwww!"

Gabriel would carefully swoop the boy above him from side to side and dipped him up and down, providing commentary. "Oh no Sammy! Look out for the mountains! Quick! You're going into a nosedive! Pull up! Pull up!"

This game too had eventually ended and Gabriel and Sammy had moved off to play with Sammy's marble run. When it was requested of him, Gabriel had brought over a couple of books, and Castiel had started to read to De and for a while all was fairly calm and quiet in the house. At some point either during one of the books, or maybe after it when they had returned to watching Gabriel and Sammy, Castiel had begun to gently rub a hand over De's tummy which really helped soothe the ache that had been steadily building since lunch time. 

So. All in all, De was very content. 

That was, until Castiel decided to ruin it by asking "How wet was it outside earlier Gabe?"

Looking up from where he had been peering down a marble tube Gabriel answered "Not too bad. There are a lot of puddles about, but they were drying up fairly quickly when the sun came out. Why?"

"Just wondering whether it might be worth a trip to the park. De and I haven't been out in a few days."

At this Sammy's head popped up. "The park?! We're going to the park?"

"I think Uncle Cas was talking about taking De buddy - you don't know if we were invited yet" came Gabriel's gentle admonition.

Jumping to his feet, Sammy immediately ran over to his Uncle and began to tug on the arm closest to him - which happened to be the one that had been rubbing soothing circles on De's belly - causing him to whine in protest at the loss of warmth and comfort. "Uncle Cas! Uncle Cas! If you go to the park can I come too? Please? Pleaaasee!? I'll be a really really good boy Uncle Cas! Pleeeeaaaaaasssseee?"

After hushing his baby softly, Cas replied "Of course Sammy, you are always welcome to join us and you are always a really good boy. Though De seems to be in a bit of a grumpy mood today so I'm probably going to be pretty busy distracting him. Do you think your Daddy might be willing to come with us too?"

Gasping, as his prize of a trip to the park was so nearly in his grasp, Sammy quickly whirled and ran back to his Daddy in order to crash into him in a bouncing wiggly hug - causing a loud cry of "Ooph!"

"Daddy! Daddy! Did you hear that? We can go to the park but we need you to come with us! Will you come? Huh? Please? Pleaaaseee Daddy!"

Gradually grabbing hold of his overexcited boy, Gabriel settled him on his lap and looked very seriously at the face pleading with him. "Oh I dunno buddy. Daddy's pretty tired from all of the playing. Don't you think it would be better if we stayed here and took a nap?"

Face falling immediately, and puppy dog eyes inadvertently being summoned, Sammy whimpered "No…no park?"

Realising that his small joke had completely missed its mark, Gabriel quickly wrapped his boy into a tighter huh and soothed "Oh no buddy, Daddy's sorry. Daddy was only playing with you, of course we can go to the park. Please don't be sad little dude, Daddy's sorry."

"We can go to the park?" Sammy asked hopefully.

"Yes, of course! Go and get your things and we'll get ready to go" Gabriel said, helping Sammy to stand and giving him a small push to get him going in the direction of the hallway.

"Yeah! Park! Park! Park! Park!" Sammy cheered as he ran to get this things together.

"Don't forget your coat, just in case!" Gabriel called after him, then turned as he heard quiet chuckling coming from the rocking chair. 

"That was close Gabriel! You know better than to tease him about things like that" Castiel laughed from where he was still rocking and stroking De's belly. 

"Shut up" Gabriel replied as he climbed to his feet. "Besides, it looks like you are going to have your own battle to face" Gabriel added as he gave a significant nod at the baby sprawled over his brother's lap. 

Glancing down, Cas saw exactly what his brother had been talking about. For during the small conversation that had taken place, it seemed that De had dropped off to sleep - the movement of the chair and the motions of his Daddy's hands combining to send him off. So now he was deep asleep and some fingers had crept up and into his mouth where they were being sleepily suckled on. While De now looked like a completely adorable little angel, Cas knew that waking him up early was going to potentially turn him into a little demon. 

"Oh. Damn." Cas said as he sighed deeply. 

"Yeah have fun with that!" Gabriel laughed as he backed away, "I'm going to go wrestle Monkey into his wellies. See you soon little bro!"

"So full of compassion. Thank you Gabriel" Castiel said sarcastically as he watched his brother's retreat, then turned to the slumbering babe in his lap and smiled softly, murmuring "What am I going to do with you?" and planting a gentle kiss to the warm forehead beneath him. 

Making the decision to attempt to do as much of the preparation for the trip as possible without waking De, Castiel gradually stopped the rocker and adjusted the baby in his arms to hold him safely as he stood. Then, once he had gained his feet he carefully made his way up the stairs and into the nursery, where he placed De gently on the changing table. Strapping Dean down safely so that he wouldn't roll off, Cas then quickly gathered the supplies he would need and stuffed them into the diaper bag. Wipes, powder, diapers, a change of clothes and a few toys quickly made their way into the bag, then Cas took a change of clothes over towards the change table and began the difficult part of his job. 

Changing De without him throwing a fit at being woken. 

First things first. Ever so carefully, Castiel manoeuvred De's limbs so that he could extract them from the t-shirt he had been wearing. Despite being careful, the remnants of their lunch had made their way onto De's t-shirt. Sandwich crumbs and tomato drips decorated the top of the shirt which required it to be changed. That being successful, Cas then re-threaded those limbs through the sleeves of a onesie. All of this was accomplished with just a few sleepy whimpers which Castiel considered a success. 

Then, knowing that De was due for a change, Castiel began to un-tape the tabs holding his baby's diaper together. Folding it open, the cold air hitting the boy's privates caused more of a full body wiggle and a deeper moan of protest as well as a few more whimpers. Though he wanted to prevent it, Cas knew the task needed to be completed, and knew that the next step would be the one to push his boy to full wakefulness. 

Fully removing the wet diaper, Castiel then proceeded to clean up his boy with the baby wipes - being very gentle, but quick with his actions. However - as he had known it would - the touch of the cold wipes on his genitals caused De's eyes to fly open and a full bodied cry to burst from the boy's tired lips. 

"It's ok sweetheart. It's ok. It's just Daddy and we're getting you all clean" Cas crooned against the building cries, attempting to soothe his irritated and confused baby. It did not have much effect though as De's cries continued to gather in volume and as he began to wiggle on the table - intent on escaping the yucky things that had woken him up. 

"You're ok sweetheart. Just stay still. Daddy's almost done baby. Nearly there. You're such a good boy baby" Castiel continued to coo as he finished with the cleaning and began to slip a new diaper under the boy's wiggling bottom. Powdering it quickly, Castiel made short work of taping the boy back into the security of the fresh diaper. 

Glancing up, Castiel saw that tears were now streaking down from De's screwed up face as he cried out his frustrations around hands that were attempting to scrub at tired eyes.   
"Oh baby, it's ok. Let's finish getting you dressed and it'll be all better. We're going to the park with Sammy! Won't that be fun?" As Castiel was talking and trying to wipe away the stream of tears, he tried to coax a pacifier into the mouth letting out pitiful wails. Although De gave it a few tentative sucks, the pacifier was quickly spat out in favour of more crying. 

De, by now had woken up enough to realise what was going on. He was so confused! First he was asleep and comfy in the rocking chair with his Daddy and then suddenly he was getting attacked by cold baby wipes! That was the worst way to wake up, and Daddy wasn't even paying attention to De crying for it to all stop! And his tummy was really hurting again now - very big stabby pains were assaulting his tummy. De couldn't even tell Daddy about that 'coz he needed to cry so much. At one point Daddy tried to give him a pacifier, and although that was nice - De just wanted to cry!

 

Deciding to just finish with his task so that he could scoop Dean up into a hug, Castiel began fastening the snaps of the onesie at De's crotch, and then gathered a pair of baby- friendly soft denim trousers which he began to thread up his boy's legs. That done, he quickly slipped on some soft white cotton socks, and then - unstrapping De from the changing table, quickly pulled on a dark blue hoodie that was decorated by a chunky red fire-truck. As soon as he had clipped a pacifier and clip to the hoodie, he pulled De off of the table and into his arms - holding De's head to his shoulder as the boy wailed out his frustrations. 

As De cried into his Daddy's shoulder - letting him know how unhappy he was at being woken up from a nice sleep, and also about the pain in his tummy, he tried to listen to what his Daddy was telling him as they weaved about the room. 

"It's all ok baby. All done. You just let it all out. Have a good cry and let it all out. Everything is all ok. When you calm down, we're going to go to the park with your brother, won't that be fun? Sammy's so excited and I bet he'll want to play with you! Shall we chase him De? Shall we chase that silly brother of yours?"

The park? De didn't want to go to the park! That was the last thing De wanted to do! The best thing would be for Daddy to cuddle him again and for him to make the owies go away from his tummy. They were making him feel kinda sick too. And De definitely didn't want to chase Sammy! That wouldn't help at all! Besides, he could never catch Sammy as his diaper made him fall over every time he tried to run. Daddy knew that! Why was Daddy being so stupid today? De didn't want to do any of those things! 

He told his Daddy as such through increased crying "No! Noo-o-o! N-no park! No p-ark D-a-a-dd-y!" he sobbed. 

Castiel just continued his swaying and stroked a hand down the head he was cradling against his shoulder. While he had been expecting the tears and crying - as this often happened if he had to wake De up, especially through changing him, this amount of upset was extreme even for De. De really had been grumpy today. Cas just figured that he was even more tired than he had thought and that this was causing the cranky behaviour. 

"Oh dear Daddy sure has a tired little man today!" Castiel said as he continued to rock and pat at his baby. "No park? I'm sure you don't mean that sweetheart. You'll have fun when we get there, you'll see. You just let out all those tears baby. Let them all out. It's all ok. Daddy's got you. Daddy's got you. "

For a little while, Daddy and baby swayed around the room. Castiel continued to hush and coo to his boy, and De sobbed his heart out on his Daddy's shoulder. But eventually De ran out of tears and began to hiccup and sniffle against his Daddy - not resisting when his pacifier was once again pressed against his lips. The slow suckling rhythm he settled into helped to soothe him further, until he just slumped exhausted in his Daddy's arms and let the man sway him as he hiccupped. 

After what felt like an eternity, Castiel felt De sag against him as his tears subsided. "Hey there baby boy. You're ok. Everything is all ok. You're fine." He let the baby sniffle against him as he suckled on his pacifier, giving him a little longer to calm down. Every so often he felt De's whole body jerk as a hiccup tore it's way through the boy's system. 

Soon however, he peeled the boy away from his body and set him down on the floor, having to avoid the hands trying to grasp for him. He saw eyes fill with tears again and the sniffles begin to pick up pace and tried to prevent a further round of tears. "Oh no baby, oh no. Daddy just put you down so he can put your coat on. As soon as it's on Daddy'll pick you right back up. Daddy promises."

De tried to grip hold of his Daddy as he was placed on the ground, but allowed his arms to be treaded through the sleaves of his yellow bumble bee raincoat. It was made of plastic and was bright yellow with a black stripe through the middle. On the coat's hood, two eyes were printed and on the back was the pattern of a pair of wings. De wasn't sure about the coat, but it made his Daddy really happy, so he wore it without too much complaint. Besides, more important right now was getting back into his Daddy's arms. He sucked faster on his pacifier as he waited to be picked back up. 

As soon as he had zipped De into the coat, Cas swooped the hiccupping boy back into his arms. "There you go baby! That's better huh? Now we're all ready for the park! Yay! I think we better go and find Sammy! He's probably been waiting for us!" And with that, Castiel began to make his way out of the nursery - scooping the diaper bag up on the way - and started to head down the stairs. 

In his arms, De tried to tell his Daddy again that he really didn't want to go to the park. Each time he hiccupped, the pain in his tummy made itself known and he just wanted to stay here and be very still and have cuddles. "No. No *hic* no park Da*hic*ddy!"

"Oh I think you'll have fun when we get there sweetheart. You're just a tired boy, aren't you" Castiel countered as he headed down the stairs. He wasn't trying to dismiss what his baby was telling him, but sometimes De could be quite contrary when he woke up - and after a little while would be up for playing and having fun. He honsetly thought that this was the case. 

"Oh hey! There they are! That must have been a lot of tears sweetpea! We could hear you all the way from down here!" Gabriel greeted cheerfully, peering to try and see the baby's face as the pair finally made it into the downstairs hallway. He and Sammy stood dressed and waiting to go next to the assembled stroller, watching as the other two family members approached. De hid his face into his Daddy's shoulder again as they approached - not wanting to see anybody. 

Sammy was dressed similarly to Dean in a raincoat, but his was a bright green colour and had little dark green frogs jumping all over it. Well usually that is what you could see, but due to the earlier excursion, most of them were covered in mud splotches. As were the bright green welly-boots that had froggy eyes over the toes. 

"We didn't want to wake up Uncle Gabe. I think we might have a very tired and grumpy little bumblebee with us today" Castiel commented as he came around to lower De into the waiting stroller and began to fiddle with the straps. De tried to tighten his grip on his Daddy, but wasn't successful and found himself being strapped into the stroller. The hiccups that hadn't quite disappeared dissolved into quiet sobs again, muffled by the presence of the pacifier. Slow tear tracks began to make their way down De's flushed cheeks once more. 

Gabriel came over and handed a pair of yellow and black striped welly-boots to his brother as the younger angel finished strapping the boy into the stroller. As Castiel knelt to push the boots onto struggling feet, Gabriel leant over to thumb tears off of De's cheeks. 

"Hey there sweetpea. Don't cry buddy, we're going to go have some fun! Look at Sammy! He's all excited to go play!" Gabriel said as he gestured towards Sammy who was bouncing on his feet nearby. 

"Yeah De! We're goin' to the park! And we can go on the swings and the slide and all the sand will be wet so we can make really awesome castles! It's gonna be so much fun!" Sammy rambled as he began to run up and down the hall way in his excitement. 

By this time, Castiel had managed to get De's boots on and had stored the diaper bag in its compartment below the stroller's seat. De tried to appeal again to his Daddy, sobbing and hiccupping gently behind his pacifier "No-o Da-addy! Pees!" He wiggled about in his stroller trying to find a comfy position to relieve the ache in his tummy. He really didn't want to go out.

Gabriel and Castiel exchanged worried looks, De's crying spells never usually lasted this long, so they weren't sure what to do for the best. The decision was taken out of their hands however when hands began to tug on the backs of their coats. "Daddy! Uncle Cas! We've been waiting ages! Can we go now? Please? C'mon!" Sammy was back to bouncing again and was attempting to tug them towards the door. 

Shrugging helplessly as he straightened from where he had been leant over De, Cas addressed his brother. "I'm sure he'll calm down in a minute. The fresh air will probably do him good. Besides, I can always bring him back if I need to."

Giving his brother a supportive smile as he gave his nephew's cheeks one last brush with his fingers, Gabe said "Yeah that sounds like a plan. Besides we'll both keep an eye on him. He'll be ok." Then, turning to Sammy, he grabbed the bouncing boy's hand and twirled him towards the door. "Come on then dude! Let's go! The park awaits!"

Giving a last reassuring smile to his little man who was still sending him pleading looks through watery eyes, Castiel moved around behind the stroller and began to push it out the door and after his brother and nephew and hoped that he was doing the right thing for his son.


	5. The chase and time at the park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel starts a chase while De is in the stroller, then the small family begin their time at the park

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here is the latest chapter. Hope you like it and thanks for all the reviews and kudos. 
> 
> While I have a few sort of ideas for how to resolve this thing, I have to say, at the moment I'm kind of lacking in inspiration as I have reached the end of where I planned out in this story. If you have anything you would like to see in this particular story or interesting ways for it to resolve itself, please let me know.
> 
> I have some other ideas for other stories in this verse I am itching to get started, and I have some prompts that I want to tackle, but if you want to send me any prompts for this verse then please feel free!

Dean slouched in his stroller as they left the house and sucked at his pacifier in an attempt to soothe himself as tears still leaked from his eyes. He was feeling absolutely miserable, and no amount of crying was making it better. De wished that he could let his Daddy know that he was feeling hurty in his tummy, but no words would come out - just more tears. 

Castiel, pushing the stroller, attempted to try and cheer his miserable little boy, peering over the handlebars and trying to get De's attention on the Impala as they passed by. "Look De! Wave to your Baby honey. I bet she's missed you. Can you wave sweetheart?"

De half-heartedly opened and closed his hand in a little wave as he was wheeled passed the sleak black car and tried to suppress another cry. He didn't want Baby to see him this upset, but he did miss her a lot. Sometimes Daddy let De play in the backseat for a while so he might have to try and convince him to let De spent some time there later. When he was feeling better.

As if Daddy could read De's mind he said "You miss Baby sweetheart? Maybe we can go visit her for a little while later. Would you like that?"

De glanced upwards to give his Daddy a small smile, indicating his happiness at that idea. Cas smiled back at his quiet boy, pleased at least that the boy seemed to have stopped crying at least, even if he did still look pale and exhausted, remnants of tear tracks still visible on slightly flushed cheeks. 

Deciding to try and build on the improvement in Dean's mood, Castiel bent over the handlebars of the stroller once again to mock whisper to his baby. "Hey De, think that we can catch Sammy and Uncle Gabe?"

De gave his Daddy and incredulous look and gave a strong suck on his pacifier as if to say "What are you talking about?"

Reaching a hand over to ruffle sandy hair Castiel chuckled and said "Don't give me that look De, Daddy's not gone mad. Watch!" With that, Castiel replaced his hand on the handle and then started to run forwards, causing the stroller to lurch forward in front of him. This startled De into letting out a squawk of surprise, which in turn made Castiel dissolve into laughter as he ran straight towards the pair slightly ahead of them on the path.

This burst of noise caused Gabriel to look back from where he had been slowly strolling hand in hand with his little boy chattering away about nothing in particular. Seeing his younger brother come barrelling towards them however, he tugged on Sammy's hand in order to get him running too. "Oh no Sammy! Quick! They're coming to get us! Run!"

Looking back quickly from where he was being pulled forward, Sammy soon caught on to what was happening and managed to go a little bit faster from where he was mainly being dragged before. "Ahhh! No Daddy! We can't let Uncle Cas get us! Go faster Daddy!"

Castiel laughed more from where he was pushing the stroller and called out "We're coming to get you! You can't get away from me and De! Come on De! We can catch them!"  
Unable to see from where he was pushing, Castiel took De's noises for ones of excitement at the game and so still smiling, continued to run after his laughing brother and nephew. De however was not excited. Every time the stroller hit a bump on the path - and there were a lot seeing as it was just a dirt track worn through the field - he was wincing and whimpering as jolts of pain were lancing through his tummy. 

Castiel had nearly caught up to the running pair and was now pretending to crash the stroller into their legs. "Oh no! Look out De! We're gonna crash into them! Ahhh! Look out Sammy! De's going to crash into you!"

"No!" Sammy squealed as his Uncle nearly got him, "Don't crash into us De! Ahhh! No! Don't crash into us! Look out Uncle Cas!"

Each and every bumb and jolt of the stroller was causing De hurt. He tried to get his Daddy to stop with the running and swerving by crying out around his paci "Ah! Ah! 'Top! 'Top!", but everyone just thought that De was into the game and enjoying himself. 

"Oh no De! We can't stop! We're going to crash! Look out everyone!" Castiel called. 

Taking action, Gabriel swooped Sammy out of the way and up into the air shouting "Don't worry Sammy! Daddy will save you!"

Sammy giggled hysterically as he was swung up into the air. "Ahhh! Daddy you saved me! Now De and Uncle Cas can't catch me no more!"

"I think I know a way that you can stay out of reach Sammy", Gabriel said as he placed Sammy down on the ground for a moment. He quickly went in front of his son and crouched down, saying "Climb on Sammy! Daddy'll give you a piggy-back ride."

Sammy quickly climbed onto his Daddy's back, and they were off again, jogging quickly down the path. Gabriel held on tightly to his son's legs, and Sammy flung his arms out wide and began to shout "I'm flying! I'm flying!"

Slowing down to a walk now that the 'prey' had escaped, Castiel lent over the stroller once more to speak to his baby. "Was that good De?"

De who by now had spat out his pacifier was breathing heavily against the pain and moaned out his distress to his Daddy. 

Misinterpreting the distress again, especially as he could only see the top of his baby's head commented "Aww, it's ok baby. I know that was a fun game but I think they got away from us. Don't worry though sweetheart, we're nearly at the park so we'll get straight back to having fun super quick."

Looking up, De could see that his Daddy was right and that they were nearly at the park. Up ahead he could see Uncle Gabe disappear into the small clearing, Sammy still perched upon his back. Honestly, De was relieved to get to the park. Either he could convince Daddy to take him home straight away, or at least they could get the park over and done with so that they could go home. Maybe De could convince Daddy to just let them cuddle on one of the benches at the park. Sometimes they did that when De was all worn out, or if Daddy decided to give De a bottle while they were out. De didn't really want to drink anything, but if he could get Daddy to give him a bottle, it would at least mean that he was keeping still and not moving. Not moving sounded like the best plan right about now, De thought as he winced going over another bumpy bit in the road. In some attempt to make himself a bit more comfortable, De tugged on the part of the stroller straps that were resting over his tummy. 

Cas, seeing De tugging at his straps called to his boy "Not long now sweetheart. You can get out when we're there. Just a couple more minutes honey and then you can get out. You're being such a good boy baby." He thought it was a good sign that De was desperate to get out. He was probably all riled up from their chasing game and ready to play.   
Finally entering the clearing that contained the park, Castiel pushed the stroller over to the set of benches where it could be kept safely while they all played. He raised a hand in greeting as he heard Sammy's joyful call of "Uncle Cas!" from where he was currently standing on top of the tower ready to go down the slide. While the floor was damp from the earlier rainfall, none of the equipment was wet, which indicated that Gabriel had used a bit of angel mojo to clear any remaining wetness up. 

Parking the stroller, Castiel went around the front to see his baby, still pushing at the straps holding him in. Grinning at his baby, he bent down to start unclipping the buckles and softly commented "Hey there baby boy. We're here! Let's get you out of there." Lifting De out of the seat and into his arms, Castiel turned them to face the playground. "What do you want to play first little man?" he asked, giving the boy a small bounce. 

Wincing at the small action - though it was missed by his Daddy - De twisted in his Daddy's arms to point behind them at the bench and said "Dat Daddy. Sit."  
"Sit? On the bench? No! Silly baby, we came to play, not to sit down! Come on funny bunny, why don't you choose something to play. Daddy will come with you" Castiel smiled at his funny boy. 

Whining a little bit as Castiel began to carry him away from the bench and towards the play equipment, De squirmed about in his Daddy's arms to keep pointing at the bench. "Hug Daddy!"

Squeezing the boy in his arms, tightening the hug-hold he had on the boy for just a moment Castiel reasoned "Aww I like hugs too De. But it's playtime now! We can have some lovely snuggly hug time later but let's go have some fun." Glancing around and spotting where the other two family members had gotten to, Castiel suggested "Oh look baby! Seems like Sammy is going to have a swing. Shall we go join him?", and without waiting for a response, started in that direction. 

By the time Castiel had made his way over to the swing set, Sammy had climbed onto a swing and was shouting "Daddy! Come on! Push me please?"

Gabriel, who had followed his son more sedately called back "I'm coming Sammy, I'm coming! Look! The slow coaches caught up to us finally! What took you so long Cassie?"  
Approaching the bucket seat that had been dubbed the 'baby swing' Castiel began trying to pry Dean out of his arms, where - realising what his Daddy's intentions were - the baby had begun to cling tightly to any part of his body that he could get a hold of. "Don't worry Gabriel. We made it. Besides, we'll get you for sure next time, won't we De?"

De just tried to cling tighter to his Daddy, though he could feel himself losing the fight as he was slipped inside of the baby seat. "Nooo Daddy! Up! Up!"

"He still hasn't cheered up then?" Gabriel nodded to the struggling baby - who was now making grabby hands at his Daddy who had moved back a few paces. Gabriel himself had positioned himself to stand behind the swing that Sammy was on. Sammy was sat patiently waiting for his push, but was looking between the adults and De curiously, wondering what was happening. 

"Well I thought he had in the stroller, but obviously not. Like I said, I think my little bumblebee is grumpy today" Castiel commented as he gave a reassuring smile to his nephew that was watching him closely. "And how are you hoppy frog?" he asked the boy, "Ready to swing?"

Beaming at his Uncle, Sammy cheered "Yeah! I'm gonna go all the way over the top! Daddy's gonna push me!"

Gasping in fake shock Castiel put his hand over his heart and said "Over the top? Oh my goodness Sammy are you sure? That's very dangerous!"

Confidently nodding Sammy started to swing his legs back and forth as he sat on the swing and spoke. "Yeah it's pretty dangerous, but I can do it! I'm a brave big boy Uncle Cas. I'm not a baby!"

"Yeah Uncle Cas! He can go so high!" Gabriel chimed in grinning.

"Ah yes of course. My apologies Sammy" Castiel replied, before smiling comfortingly at his baby who was still struggling and making motions for him to pick him up. 

Sammy's voice interrupted his musings. "Uncle Caaas?"

"Yes Sammy?"

"Does De like to swing very high? 'Coz he's just a baby. He might get scared."

Smiling warmly at Sammy while stroking a hand soothingly over his baby's hair Cas replied "Well De does like to swing Sammy, but your right, I don't think he'd like to go as high as you. You are a very big boy after all."

Chest puffing up proudly, Sammy cheered "Yeah! Come on then Daddy! I need a push!"

Chuckling and stepping forward, Gabriel glanced at his brother who was having to distangle himself from grabby baby hands once again and asked "Ok, shall we set them off together?"

From his position in front of the baby swing, Castiel nodded his agreement and as one, the angels began to push/pull their charges, so that they were swinging in the same direction at the same time. 

While Sammy let out woops and cheers, De began to cry very very softly, grunting each time he swooped forwards or back - the pain in his tummy reacting funnily to the swinging motion. 

Cas, noticing the baby's distress, slowed down the swing, but kept it going - hoping that his baby would relax into it. Really, he was starting to get worried about De and was beginning to think that something was more wrong with his baby than he was aware of. Some days, De could be very cranky and grumpy, so some of his behaviour was standard for him. Big Dean had grumpy days too, where no matter what anyone did, he was in a foul mood and everything was wrong. Both baby and grown man had those days, but this one was not following the usual patterns of behaviour. 

As Castiel contemplated his boy he kept up a littany of reassurance. "Hey there De! Come on sweetheart, have you got a smile for Daddy? Wheee! Isn't that fun baby? It's ok. Your ok baby boy."

On the other side of them, Sammy was screaming in delight, chanting "Higher! Higher! Higher Daddy!", which Gabriel happily complied with. 

Meanwhile in the baby swing, De was fighting against all of the sensations assaulting him. Sammy screaming was hurting his head, and each time he swooped in the swing, his tummy would lurch and the pain would stab at him. He was having to breathe very hard around all of the pain. Not helping was the fact that the front of the baby swing seat was pressing right into his tummy each time he swung forwards. 

Also, each time he came forwards, he would reach desperately out for his Daddy, but he always ended up swinging further away from him again. Why couldn't he get to Daddy?! Why wasn't Daddy getting him? De gave into quiet tears as he whined out his frustrations. 

Suddenly, the feeling in his tummy changed. It stopped stabbing at him and lurching and all at once became a really huge gurgle as he swung backwards in his arch. 

As soon as he began to swing forwards again, something gave out, and De found himself burping and throwing up all the remnants of the pieces of sandwich he had for lunch. 

As De felt the warm sticky liquid land all down the front of his coat and in his lap, he felt hands quickly dragging the swing to a complete stop. 

As soon as he was still in the swing, De took in a huge breath and let it out again with a heart wrenching screaming sob.


	6. Clean up, clues and heading home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The angels scrabble to take care of De at the park, then begin to make their way home where De gives his Daddy a big clue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although it is a little bit sad, I like this chapter. I think I know where I am going to go with this now and how to resolve it - though a big thank you to Haras for their suggestions!

The minute the swing came to a complete stop Castiel watched with horror as his baby began to scream, occasionally giving a gagging heave each time he managed to suck in a breath of air. In the corner of his vision, he was aware of Gabriel dragging Sammy's swing to a stop and coming around to stand before him where he stood completely frozen. 

"What on earth happened?" Gabriel asked in alarm, taking in the sight of the baby who was still sat in the stationary play equipment. 

"I - I have no idea!" Castiel stammered as he finally regained himself and began to move forwards towards his sobbing child. "One minute he was swinging and then that all came out of nowhere! I had no idea he was even sick!"

"Hey, hey wait a minute. Let me grab some wipes before you pick him up. Let's get at least some of that muck off of him before you get him." Gabriel reached out a hand to halt his brother's movements, but then quickly sprinted off in the direction of the stroller and diaper bag, knowing that they needed to work quickly to comfort the distressed baby. And also before Cas lost it and just grabbed the baby regardless of any vomit still covering them. 

Managing to grab hold of his baby's hand at least, Castiel attempted to offer any kind of comfort he could - absolutely desperate to just grab up his baby into his arms where he belonged. "Ok De, ok. I know it's horrible baby. I know. But Daddy will have you in a minute. Just hold on baby. Hold on."

De, who was by now full on sobbing, reached desperately out for his Daddy. Why wasn't Daddy picking him up already? That’s all that De wanted! Each second that passed increased De's distress, and he found himself gagging again through the sheer onslaught of tears as well as from the residual effect of having been sick in the first place. Although the gurgly feeling had gone now, the pain still remained in his tummy and he wanted it to go away now. 

Added to all of this was now the absolutely horrid sensation of sticky warmth down his front and all over his trousers, a very yucky taste in his mouth, and he was aware that at some point he must have wet his diaper as that too was feeling distinctly uncomfortable. `All in all, De was thoroughly miserable and he desperately wanted his Daddy to pick him up - and why wasn't Daddy picking him up already!

As he continued to talk to the sobbing De, Cas became aware of someone tentatively grabbing the hem of his coat. Glancing over, Cas found the very worried face of Sammy who had crept over and was asking desperately for reassurance - tears gathering in worried brown eyes. 

"Uncle Cas?" came the very quiet question - Castiel had to strain to hear him over the continued sounds of De's wails - "What's the matter with De?"

Unable to free a hand from where he was attempting to comfort De, Castiel gave the best impression of a reassuring smile that he could at the current time. "Oh Sammy. Don't worry honey, De's just a bit ill at the moment. I'm going to make him all better just as soon as your Daddy gets back. It's all ok Sammy, please don't worry."

Just at that precise moment, Gabriel made his way back to them, clutching at the packet of wipes in his hand. "Ok, I'm back. Let's get De sorted." Glancing at the face of his worried boy who by now had tears gently streaking their way down his face Gabriel took a second to say. "Hey there Sammy-boy. It's all ok little man, its all ok I promise. Why don't you go back a step for a moment while I give Uncle Cas a hand for a sec, then when I'm don’t I'll come straight to you. I promise sweetie. Can you be my big brave boy for just a minute while I help your Uncle? Then I'll be right with you ok?"

Sammy gave his Daddy a very watery, but decisive nod, moved back out of the way a few steps, but did not take his eyes off of what was happening for a second. He started sucking on the end of one finger for comfort while he waited. 

Assured that Sammy was as ok as he could be for the present moment, Gabriel turned his attention back to his younger brother, who was making good use of the wipes to mop at the face of the frantically wiggling baby. 

"Cas? Cassie? Stop for a second. We need to get him out of that coat, then I reckon you'll be ok to pick him up. Help me get him out of that ok?" 

Nodding gravely, through the never ending stream of comforting words, Castiel used the wipes to mop as much of the vomit off of the boy's coat as he could so that Gabriel could access the zipper. As soon as the older angel had undone it, they worked together to peel away the plastic garment and to move arms out of the sleeves. 

De, the whole time was completely out of it - lost to his distress and tears. He knew that Daddy was very close as he could hear his voice and he tried frantically to get the man to pick him up - stretching his arms out as much as he could from where he was trapped in the seat and attempting to grab hold of anything he could. He was aware of something cold wiping at his face and nose and of people moving his arms about, but he didn't care. Why wasn't Daddy picking him up already? Why? De just continued to cry out his distress to anyone who would listen. 

The second that De's arms were free of the coat material, Castiel grabbed his baby under the armpits and hauled him up out of the baby swing seat and into his embrace, wrapping his arms around him protectively and cradling the back of the boy's head. 

"Oh De. It's ok baby. It's ok sweetheart. Daddy's got you. It's all ok Daddy's got you" Castiel whispered as he held his baby close - uncaring about the fact that his boy was still sobbing loudly or smelt of the sickness that was now covering parts of both of their clothes. While he would usually be swaying or bouncing his baby in order to further extend his comfort, this time Cas refrained - not wanting to make his boy more sick. 

De sagged in relief as he was finally where he wanted to be. He recognised who had him the very instant he was picked up, and he clutched tightly to the man holding him close. Although he still felt terrible, he couldn't help but relax slightly as he heard his Daddy's murmered words close to his ear, and felt the amazing comfort that the angel offered freely. Ever so slowly, he found himself responding to the comfort and reassurance until his tears died away and he found himself sniffling gently into his Daddy's shoulder, still listening to the quiet repetition of his Daddy's words of love. 

As all this was happening, Gabriel had gathered up the soiled coat and the wipes that littered the ground and, beckoning Sammy to follow, had made his way over to the stroller to dispose of the messy items in a plastic bag to be taken care of later. As soon as he had wiped his hands off on a clean wipe, Gabriel had turned and gathered his still gently weeping boy into a crushing hug. 

"Hey Sammy. It's alright. I've got you little man. You're ok. I've got you. You're being such a brave boy for me and Uncle Cas. Such a brave boy." 

Hearing a small sniffle from where Sammy had buried his head into his shoulder, and feeling hands grip him close Gabriel continued "I know that was quite scary, and we didn't know what to do for a moment, but you were such a big help buddy. You were so brave and you let me help Uncle Cas out even though I know you wanted to stay with Daddy. Thank you so much buddy. I know that was really hard but you did so well! So well! And it will be all ok now. We'll look after De and get him all better and everything will be fine.

You'll see." All the while he ran a hand down Sammy's soft brown hair, stroking it in the way he knew the boy found soothing. 

Not too long later, Sammy gave a big sniffle and pulled back to look into his Daddy's face and asked worriedly. "What's the matter with De Daddy? Is my baby brother sick?"

Sighing gently and using his thumb to swipe away at the remnants of tears Gabriel took a moment to glance over to where Castiel appeared to be managing to calm De down - at least it seemed that Castiel was being successful judging by the fading sounds of the baby sobbing. "I don't know buddy. He didn't seem to be sick, but maybe we just all missed the signs." Looking at his son's worried face however, he added "But don't you worry about that little man. Me and Uncle Cas will find out what is wrong and we'll make it all better. There's nothing for you to worry about."

"But- but I want to help! De's my baby brother!" Sammy protested as a petulant look crossed his face. 

"I know you do buddy. And you are an amazing big brother. As soon as we know what is wrong we'll let you help out ok? I bet De would appreciate some big brother cuddles later on. Think you'll be able to do that buddy?"

Determination filled Sammy's brown eyes. "Yeah. I can do that Daddy" he said seriously. 

"I know you can" Gabriel replied, drawing his son in for a further firm hug and a kiss to the top of the head. "Right. I think we had better go see what's up, don't you?" Gabriel asked. 

"Okay Daddy" Sammy replied, offering up a shy smile.

"That's my little man" Gabriel said proudly as he took hold of Sammy's hand and made his way over to where Cas was still standing holding on to a now quiet baby De. "How's he doing Cassie?"

"Calmer at least, but I think I need to get him home. Did I miss something Gabe? Did he seem sick to you?" Cas asked as he continued to pat at De who by now was just slumped against him sniffling and exhausted. The baby was still pale, and shaking slightly in his Daddy's arms, completely exhausted from the latest events. 

"No I didn't notice anything unusual. He just seemed tired and grumpy like you said but nothing out of the usual for him."

"That’s exactly what I thought. I feel terrible. He tried to tell me didn't he? Asking over and over to stay home, and all the crying. I can't believe I missed this!" Cas rambled to his brother as he held his son tighter. He felt so guilty and was struggling to keep his emotions back in order not to distress his baby further. 

Placing the hand that wasn't holding his son's comfortingly on his brother's back, Gabriel lent to try and get a glimpse of De's face where he had buried it into his Daddy. "You couldn't have known Cas, you thought you were doing right by him. I thought you were too. You can't beat yourself up for this little brother. You need to just concentrate on getting that boy better" Gabriel soothed. 

Sighing, and giving his brother a weary uncertain smile, Cas replied "Your right. Sorry Gabe. I guess I need to get De home now. What are you two doing?" Cas gasped suddenly and looked around frantically. "Where's Sammy? He was all upset! Is he ok?"

"Calm down Cassie. He's right here. I've got him and he's fine. He's worried about his brother, but he's fine. He's being my brave little man, aren't you Sammy?" 

Sam gave his Uncle a small smile and quietly said "I'm 'kay Uncle Cas."

"That's good little man. I was worried. You're such a good boy, you know that right?" Cas said solemly as he patted De through another small whimper.

"Yeah" Sammy replied. 

Looking closely at the baby who was beginning to shiver again against his Daddy, Gabriel decided to take charge. "Ok. I think that we need to get back home and take care of the munchkin. He can't be comfy in those clothes and I bet he'll be happier once we get there. Come on, let's go."

De, who had been listening closely, even while he tried to bury himself against his Daddy, whined and gave a small wiggle when he heard his Uncle's proposed plan. Yes he wanted that! He just wanted to go home. 

"Alright baby" Cas said as he began making his way back to where the stroller was parked, "Alright. We'll be home soon. You're ok sweetheart." He patted a comfortable rhythm against his boy's bottom as he carried him and noted that De was in need of a change. That got added to his list of things to achieve as soon as they got home. Reaching the stroller, Cas gave it a look before deciding to bypass getting his boy into it. They both needed to hold each other close for the time being. 

"Gabe? Would you mind taking care of the stroller please?"

"No problem. Let's get that baby home as soon as possible" Gabriel replied as he secured the diaper bag and gripped the handle to begin pushing as they started off towards the house. Sammy trailed slightly behind his Daddy, still gripping his hand tightly as they set off. He was still worried about his baby brother and so was being unusually quiet.   
As the quartet made their way home, each of the angels tried to quietly reassure their child. Gabriel was attempting to distract Sammy by pointing interesting things out to see and talking about the latest book they had been reading together, but he wasn't having much success. 

Cas meanwhile was still keeping up his constant stream of comforting words. He was having a little bit more of an impact in drawing De out of his silence, though his miserable boy was back to sniffling and crying ever so softly as he tried to communicate with his Daddy. "Hey De it's ok, We're nearly there and we'll get you all nice and clean and then we can have some cuddles ok?"

"Uh uh-huh" De sniffled and rubbed his head against Cas's shoulder. He felt icky and getting clean would be nice. His diaper was all cold and damp and it would be nice to have a change. There was something he wanted more though.

"Da-addy?"

"Yes sweetheart?" Cas said, placing a kiss on De's head.

"Wan' wan' boo-oo" De wailed as he cried, sobs breaking up his words as he realised the truth in his statement.

"I know baby. I know. We'll go find blue blanket just as soon as we can ok?" came Cas's reply as he heart broke just a little bit more as his baby's misery became more apparent. He just wanted to make it all better. 

"Bloo Daddy" De whined, desperate for his comfort item. 

Suddenly, Cas misstepped and tripped a tiny bit on a small dip in the path, jolting De suddenly as he quickly righted them. 

Stabbing pain quickly made itself known again in De where it had dulled to a aching roar for a while where De had been pressed up against the warmth of his Daddy.

Gasping, De sobbed out "Owww! Ah-owww!"

Pausing in the walk, Cas tried to see De's face. "De? Baby? What's ow? Can you tell Daddy?"

"Owww! Oww Da-aaddy!" De sobbed again, clutching at his tummy with one hand. Cas did not miss the motion. 

"Your tummy? You're tummy hurts De?" Castiel asked, as he released a hand to rub over the area De was clutching. 

Gabriel and Sammy came up beside where they had stopped. 

"What's the hold up?" Gabe asked.

"I think De's tummy hurts?" Cas half stated and half asked as he rubbed at his boy's tummy. 

De just turned into his Daddy's shoulder and continued to sob, occasionally letting out and "Oww!" or a sobbed "Blooo!"

"Ok. Ok." Gabriel breathed out worriedly. "Well at least that's a clue. Maybe we can sort this all out when we get back. Come on. We're nearly there, there isn't anything we can do here. Let's just get back to the house."

And with that decisive statement, the quartet moved on again, and within a couple of minutes, they had made their way through the door into their home.


	7. Finding the cause of the trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family spend time cleaning up and relaxing after the park trip, then Uncle Gabe makes an important discovery.

As the small family made their way into the house Gabriel paused in the hallway to undress himself and Sammy whereas Cas continued straight on to head towards the nursery. As soon as he was there, he began to lower Dean down onto the change table, despite the protests that this provoked. 

"Ok, De, ok. It's alright baby. Daddy's right here and I'm not going anywhere sweetheart. We just need to start getting you all cleaned up, then we can work at making you feel better" Cas crooned as he tried to settle De down, making sure that his boy was safe where he was laying. 

Although De did accept laying down, he didn't like it - preferring to stay right where he was. There was one thing that would make it better though. "Bloo Daddy?" De asked, looking straight up at his Daddy with watery pleading eyes. 

"Of course baby. Daddy can go get your blanket right away" Cas said as he gently pressed a pacifier to his baby's lips, smiling as it was accepted quickly. "I'll have to go over to the crib though baby. Can you be brave for me while I do that?" he asked as he smoothed a hand over his baby's hair. 

De sucked in a deep shuddering breath, but nodded his consent. As quick as possible, Castiel went over to the crib and snatched up the old ratty t-shirt from where it had been half buried under the pillow that rested there. Making his way back to the changing table, he handed over the prize to the baby who had been reaching for it desperately. 

"There you go baby. Blue blanket for you. That nice baby?" Castiel asked as he took a moment to strip himself of his own coat and boots as he watched De snuggle into his old shirt. The very minute the boy had got his blanket, De had begin rubbing it against his face in an attempt to self soothe. The presence of the blanket, as well as the rhythmic nursing on the pacifier had allowed De to relax slightly more where he was laying. 

After a moment where he allowed his baby to comfort himself, Castiel moved forward to the changing table to begin his task of cleaning De up. 

"Ok then De, lets see about getting you a little bit more comfortable shall we?" he asked as he began to pull off the welly boots the boy had been wearing. Then, moving on, he in turn pulled off the boy's socks and trousers. Given that the trousers were covered in the mess from earlier, Castiel placed them in a spare bag that had been lying nearby so that they wouldn't mess anything else up before he could get it in the wash. Then manoeuvring De into a sitting up position, he began to remove De's hoodie, that had unfortunately not escaped its own covering in bits of vomit. 

As soon as De was free of those articles of clothing, Cas lay him back down to begin unsnapping the onesie for access to the wet diaper. "Hey De, how about a bath? I think that might make you feel all better. What d'you think?"

De looked up at his Daddy and gave a shy nod from around his blanket. That sounded really nice actually. Bath time was always nice, and maybe it would make him feel less sticky and make his tummy feel better. 

Finishing wiping De clean, Cas smiled and said "Great! Let's get going then huh?" and leaving De in his undone onesie for the moment, carried the boy through to the bathroom, where he began to run the warm water. 

"Bubbles?" came the small request from De, who was watching the swirling water with interest.

"Of course! Can't have a bath without bubbles can we?" Cas replied as he grabbed the bottle to add the required mixture. Then, he lowered De to the ground and began to strip him of the onesie and coaxed the baby into leaving his blanket safe and dry upon the counter before lifting the boy and slipping him comfortably into the warm foamy water, which provoked a sigh of pleasure. 

"That nice baby boy?" Cas cooed as he supported De and began to swirl water up to wash over his baby's tummy.

Dean moaned in delight as the warm water hit right over where the owies were coming from and squirmed in delight. "Mmmm!" 

"Yeah I bet that feels nice if you have a tummy ache huh?" Castiel crooned as he continued to swirl and swish the water. De hummed in contentment and gave his Daddy a huge smile. The water was doing him really good as he relaxed his muscles. 

"There's my smiley boy! I missed you today!" Cas beamed as he got the smile. The water seemed to be doing good. Maybe this was the end of De's tummy troubles. As horrible as it was, maybe being sick had helped to get rid of the problem. 

As he picked up a washcloth to begin cleaning his boy up, Cas resolved to enjoy the bath time bonding so chatted happily with his baby. 

=========

Meanwhile, downstairs, Gabriel and Sammy had spent some time in the kitchen preparing drinks. They would need them to calm the nerves after their hectic outing to the park. Gabriel made a pot of tea for himself and Cas, then went about pouring a cup of juice for Sammy and gathering a cool bottle of water from the fridge for De. Sammy was very quiet as they worked, only talking when prompted for answers for questions. He was obviously unsettled by seeing his brother so distressed. 

In an attempt to cheer his solemn little boy up, Gabriel withdrew a hidden tin of double chocolate cookies and placed them next to the beverages on the tray they had set up. The tray was kept hidden to prevent little boy's hands accidentally creeping inside to sneak cookies before dinner times. 

Carrying the tray, Gabriel led the two of them into the family room and helped to settle Sammy on the sofa before handing him his beaker of juice. Then, collecting his cup of tea (sweetened with honey and lemon), Gabriel settled himself next to his son, before draping an arm over his son's shoulders to draw the boy back into a comfortable embrace. 

"There we go Sammy. Comfy and cosy at home again. How's your juice?" Gabriel asked with a tired sigh. 

"It's nice Daddy, thank you." Sammy replied quietly. None of his usual enthusiasm or the excitement of the young boy was present. 

"You're welcome buddy" Gabriel said as he gave the shoulders he was cradling a small squeeze. Gabriel took a sip of his tea, then looked over to study his son's face. The boy was fiddling with his cup where he cradled it between two hands and was chewing slightly on his bottom lip. Every so often he would stop and glance up towards the ceiling before looking back down to resume chewing. 

Attempting distraction, Gabriel lent forwards to place his cup on the table before grabbing the tin and offering his boy a cookie. That never failed to bring a smile to his boy's face.  
This, however, also failed as Sammy politely declined with a "No thank you Daddy. 'M not hungry."

Sighing as he put the tin down beside him and replaced his arm around his boy, once again drawing him near Gabriel offered "Dean will be ok Sammy. Uncle Cas has got him. He'll take good care of your brother, I promise."

Glancing up at his Daddy through long eyelashes Sammy near whispered "Why was De sick Daddy? Is he going to be sick again?"

Keeping the boy in his hug Gabriel said "I don't know buddy. But what I do know is that we'll take care of him ok. I promise you can help too alright? De's going to need his big brother. Will you help us out?"

"Course Daddy! I want to make De better. I want him to play with me!" Sammy said, sitting up to earnestly look at his Daddy - ready for the challenge. He put his cup down on the table so that he could concentrate all of his attention on his Daddy. He needed to be ready for anything and he would need his hands free for that!

"Great! You are going to be such a good help little man. Though maybe De won't want to play much today if he's poorly. You up for giving him cuddles instead?" Gabriel prodded, warmth flowing through him at his boy's commitment to his brother. 

"Yeah! I can do that! I'm really good at giving cuddles Daddy! An' an' I can be really gentle too, 'coz you need to be gentle with babies right?" Sammy asked, excitement starting to shine in his eyes and voice.

"That's right dude. Though think you can show me how good your cuddles are buddy? We might need a test run before we let you loose on your little brother" Gabriel teased gently, smiling the whole while as his little boy came back to him. 

Launching himself at his Daddy, causing them both to fall backwards onto the supportive cushions, Sammy wrapped his hands right around his Daddy's middle, giving a huge squeeze Sammy squealed "Okay Daddy!"

Laughing as they bounced about on the sofa Gabriel cheered "Oh yeah! That's one of the best cuddles I've ever had! Though maybe try not to squeeze De huh?" he teased to finish.  
"I won't Daddy! I squeezed you 'coz I know I can! You aren't a baby, you're my Daddy! I can't break you!"

Chuckling as the settled back into their hug Gabe said quietly "That's right buddy. You can't break me, or ever get rid of me. You're stuck with me for good I'm afraid."  
They sat there in comfortable silence for a while, enjoying each other's presence, but it was soon broken by a voice cheekily asking "Can I have a cookie now please Daddy?"  
Laughing and suddenly flipping Sammy onto his back, Gabriel attacked him with tickles. "Oh! Cookies now is it! You want cookies now?!"

Squealing with laughter Sammy screeched "No Daddy! No tickles! Nooo!"

A frantic tickle battle was the sight that greeted Castiel as he carried his freshly dressed baby through into the family room before settling both of them down into the rocker.  
"Business as usual I see?" Castiel teased as he started the rocking motion, making sure that De was comfy in his lap, head cradled softly on his chest. De let himself be settled and nuzzled himself into his blanket, which he had managed to convince his Daddy to wear. That, coupled with the strong heartbeat he could hear underneath him helped him to relax completely bonelessly against his Daddy. He was all clean and warm, snug in a blue footed sleeper, pacifier bobbing against his lips as he nursed, so he turned his attention to watch his uncle and brother as they struggled to right himself. He snorted in laughter as he saw his brother reach across Gabriel to snag a cookie before stuffing most of it in his mouth with a huge bite.

"You were expecting something different?" Gabriel shot back, giving his son a mock glare, which was met by a cheeky chipmunk cheeked grin. 

"Of course not" Cas smiled as he watched the exchange. "I would be horrified to find anything different to be completely honest".

"Excellent. Wouldn't want to disappoint after all" Gabriel beamed, before his smile dimmed somewhat to look concernedly at the baby nestled in his brother's embrace. "How's baby boy doing?"

"Better after a bath I think" Cas replied, looking down to study De's face. It was still pale, but he did, for now, have a small smile on his face which could be seen just peaking out behind the mouth-guard of the slowly moving pacifier. "De says that his tummy is still hurting, but the warm bath was good for it, and he seems to like it if I rub over it. Hopefully he won't be sick again, but I think I'm going to just keep him on bottles for the rest of the day. So, for a little while I think we are just going to sit quietly and see how things go."

Sammy, who had been watching avidly from his seat next to his Daddy seemed to accept this explaination, and decided that he would see if he could go do some playing before his big brother duties were needed - as he was sure they would after his Daddy's talk. "Daddy?" he asked, "Can I go play now please?" 

Turning to look back at his son, Gabriel cheerfully replied "Of course Sammy. I'm just going to stay and chat to Uncle Cas for a while though ok?"

"Ok Daddy!" Sammy grinned, getting to his feet and snagging another cookie on his way past his Daddy to the toy box. 

"Hey! Who said you could have another one?" Gabriel mock scolded as he watched his boy scamper off giggling loudly. "Cheeky monkey" he growled playfully. 

Soft snickering could be heard from nearby Castiel and Gabe discovered his nephew sniggering at him quietly. "What are you laughing at huh?" he asked, pretending to be severe, though the effect was ruined by the large smile that was spread across his face.

This prompted Dean to dissolve into full giggles, however the moment he did so, a wince spread across his face as he pressed a hand to his tummy. Moaning, he buried his face into his Daddy's chest for a moment, taking in deep calming breaths. 

"Shhh. It's ok baby. It's ok. Shh" Cas hushed, as he rubbed a tiny bit faster over the whole of his baby's stomach. 

"It's still hurting him a lot huh?" Gabriel asked, concern once again blooming across his features as he watched this scene play out. "Any idea what might be causing it?"

"No idea" Cas sighed, turning worried eyes to his older brother. "This has come out of nowhere really. I mean he was fine this morning. I have no idea what could have happened."

"Hmmm" Gabe trailed off, also coming up blank as he thought over the morning's events. The angels discussed the events of the morning between themselves, but there really was nothing that had happened out of the ordinary. They had had a calm and happy family breakfast before the boys had gone off to play. Sammy had complained after a while that De had been chewing on his toys, so the baby had been relocated to the playpen. He had double checked that Dean hadn't actually managed to eat any of Sammy's toys, but other than the addition of a few new teeth marks on a soldier's shield, nothing had been missing from the toys, so that couldn't have been causing the problem. Sammy had played happily until their walk, and Dean had been safe, though grumpy in the playpen. Nothing unusual had happened at all, so Gabriel had to assume that De really was just ill. Though what could be causing the obviously painful tummy ache was still a mystery. 

Both still privately thinking over causes and options, the angels gradually started to talk over other things. At some point, Castiel had requested the bottle of water and so Gabriel had brought it over. 

De nursed slowly at the bottle of water that his Daddy held for him. Aside from the occasional wince against the pain that continually ripped through his tummy, De was fairly happy. He was enjoying the thump of his Daddy's heartbeat beneath his ear and the rumbling sensation of his Daddy's gravelly voice as he chatted to Uncle Gabe. He allowed himself to lazily watch the happenings of the room, but also frequently turned his head to nuzzle himself against his Daddy's chest and the feel of his soft warm blanket. 

Some time passed, and Gabriel allowed himself to sink back against the cushions of the sofa he was sitting on and allowed his eyes to drift to where Sammy had sprawled himself across the carpet where he was busily colouring in a book about jungle animals. The boy's long legs were swinging back and forth in the air, and Gabriel grimaced each time they went backwards as they were swishing very close to the edge of the playpen. 

As he watched his son's feet glide back and forth, something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Curious, Gabriel allowed his eyes to drift to the side where something was glinting just around one of the corners of the playpen. Getting to his feet, Gabriel wandered over in that direction, patting Sammy's head on the way past, gaining a happy giggle in response. 

Bending down when he reached his destination, Gabriel had to lift a flap of a blanket that was hanging out of the playpen slightly, only to discover three of his son's marbles. Marbles that he was sure he had asked Sammy to put away earlier. Scanning the room, Gabriel caught other small glints of shiny marbles scattered all around the edges of the room now that he was actively looking for them. Obviously Sammy hadn't done as good a job at tidying as he had thought. His fault for not staying to help though he thought to himself. 

As Gabriel wandered around gathering up more of the small toys he suddenly stood straight and turned to look at the playpen as a horrible thought occurred to him. Dean hadn't seemed ill at all throughout most of the morning but then suddenly was assalted by a terrible stomach ache. De had been put in the playpen in order to stop him from putting some of Sammy's smaller toys in his mouth in order to keep him from swallowing them. But then, some of Sammy's small toys had ended up right outside of the playpen - easily in reach of a determined baby. 

What if De had gotten hold of one of the marbles and had somehow swallowed it?

Quickly stuffing the marbles into the toy chest, Gabriel hurried right over to the rocking chair, where it appeared that both Castiel and Dean had begun to drift off. 

"Cas!" Gabriel called out urgently, "Open De's sleeper for me please!"

"Huh? What? Gabriel?" Castiel stammered confusedly as he suddenly stopped the rocking chair's motion - prompting a disgruntled whine from his baby that he hushed gently. 

"I think I might know what's wrong with De. Actually, bring him over to the sofa and lie him down, it'll be easier".

Responding to the urgency in his brother's tone, Cas grabbed hold of his now protesting squirming baby and made his way over to the sofa where - prying De's hands from around his neck, he lay the boy down on the cushions. Before he could start at anything else though, Gabriel began to unbutton the front and part of the crotch of the baby's sleeper, pulling it apart so that he had good access to the boy's exposed stomach. 

This gave him time to reassure his baby. "Hey baby" he cooed, slipping a pacifier back into his boy's mouth, noting the boy's worried green eyes, "It's ok sweetheart. It's ok. Uncle Gabe's going to find out what's going on baby, then we can help you get better. It's all ok baby."

Then, looking up and searching out his brother's gaze Castiel asked what was happening.

"I'm not sure, but I think he might have swallowed a marble" Gabe said, his usual humour completely gone from his voice and demeanour. He was currently gently prodding around the squirming baby's tummy, feeling for any area of tenseness.

Even though he was being very gentle, De began to thrash and sob on the sofa - each prod feeling like fire going through him. Castiel had to try to keep him still and was desperately trying to hush his boy, constantly repeating a soothing refrain. "Ok, De, ok. Keep still sweetheart. I know it hurts. I know. Keep still baby. Keep still." Worry making him stressed, he turned to Gabe and barked out "What are you doing? Hurry up!"

Not bothered by his brother's tone - knowing that he was completely stressed out and worried by the sudden turn of events, Gabriel shrugged it off and concentrated on his task but did explain himself. "I'm doing a scan to see if I can find it. Make sure that this is what I think it is. Just keep him still."

As Castiel worked at calming his distressed and fully crying boy, Gabriel extended his grace to scan all over the squirming baby's tummy, looking for the elusive cause of the pain. Eventually though he found the cause of the problem, and he closed his eyes as his fears were concerned. For there, nestled in the boy's stomach, was the dreaded marble.


	8. Moving the marble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The angels decide what to do, and attempt to resolve De's problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Appologies about the shorter length of this chapter, but it is an important one that needed to end where it does. More to come shortly. Not too much left of this now, then I can move on to some more ideas and prompts I have for this verse. I should probably learn to work on more than one story at a time, but my concentration only spreads so far...

"What are we going to do?!" Castiel asked, worry flooding his tone as he used one hand to keep his son still, while the other was continually carding through his son's hair. 

As soon as Gabriel had stopped prodding at his tummy, De had responded to his Daddy's words and had managing to reduce his sobs to gentle sniffles. He was currently laying on the sofa, his sleeper suit undone from the crotch all the way up to his chest. While he was sucking nervously on his pacifier and twisting his fingers into his blanket that his Daddy was still wearing and listening to the grown up's discuss things above him. 

Now that he thought about it, he did remember having a marble this morning, but he couldn't remember swallowing at all. Maybe he had though? It would explain the tummy ache. But he honestly couldn't remember having eaten it. That would be a silly thing to have done! He had no idea what was going on, but judging from the serious looks the two angels were exchanging, it couldn't be great. 

"Not a huge amount we can do to be honest Cassie" Gabriel sighed. "There's no way we are going to be able to get it out right now without causing him more pain at this point." He ran a hand through his hair in his frustration. 

"I don't want to hurt him more. He's in enough pain as it is!" Cas exclaimed, startling De and making him jump. 

"I know. I know" Gabriel replied, "I think we're just going to have to wait for it come out on its own, as horrible as that sounds."

"Do you think we can move it along?" Cas asked timidly. "Would that hurt him anymore do you think? Would it help?"

"Might be an option" Gabriel said thoughtfully. "Actually. That might work. I think you are going to have to do it though, my grace probably won't feel as comfortable for him as yours. If we are going to get him through this with as little discomfort as possible, it would be best for you to manipulate things."

"I wouldn't ask you to do that Gabe. You've done enough as it is. Honestly thank you. I don't know where I'd be without you" Castiel appealed, his heartfelt honesty shining from his eyes. 

"I would do it without being asked if I thought I could make things better for either of you. You know that right?" Gabriel asked seriously, while rubbing comfortingly at Dean's tummy - trying to ease any discomfort that he could. 

"I know. Thank you Gabriel." Castiel said, equally as serious, trying to convey all of his sincerity to his brother. 

The angels gave themselves a moment of silent communication, before they pushed on with their plan. Basically, they were going to manipulate the marble inside of De, so that it would hopefully make its way out of the baby naturally when he next needed to use the toilet. Using grace, Castiel would reach inside of Dean and gently move the marble along his system, so that it would be easier for it to pass when the time came. It wouldn't be especially comfortable, but it would be better than leaving the item to work its way on its own, or trying to pull it straight through the boy's system straight away. It was the best option out of a bunch of horrible options. 

Getting a confirming nod from his brother, Gabriel moved around to De's head and gently lifted it so that De was resting comfortably in his lap, which also had the effect of elevating the baby's body slightly, which would help Castiel out. 

Castiel meanwhile, was trying to explain things to the baby who by now had picked up on the adult's attitudes and was nervously sucking on his pacifier while watching them carefully. 

"Ok baby. Seems like you have somehow gotten a marble inside of you. That's what is making your tummy all owie baby, so Daddy is going to try and get it out now. Daddy is going to be as gentle as possible ok, but I need you to be a really brave baby. Uncle Gabe is right here, and Daddy isn't going anywhere ok? We're right here and we're not leaving you sweetheart."

De didn't really understand what his Daddy was saying, but knew that Daddy needed him to be a good boy. He would try really, really hard to be the best boy he could for his Daddy, but he was scared. He felt his Uncle Gabe move him up onto his lap, and allowed the man to take a hold of one of his hands, but the other he reached out to wrap firmly in his blanket. He was pretty scared and sure he was going to need blue blanket with him. 

Seeing tears start to fall slowly from his baby's watery green eyes, Castiel decided to stop prolonging the inevitable and get on with his task. 

Holding his hand over Dean's stomach, Castiel pushed forward with his grace to reach inside of his baby and to find the small ball that was causing so much pain. Locating it quickly, due to having watched his brother's manipulations closely, he every so slowly and gently began to move the marble through his boy's system, trying to avoid jostling the boy's natural system as much as possible. 

Beneath him, he felt De tense up and sobs begin to pour forth reacting to the discomfort. He felt De tug desperately at the t-shirt he was wearing, but he dare not turn his full attention to his baby at the moment. His murmured words of "Ok baby. Not too long. You're being such a good boy De. Such a good boy. I know. I know it hurts. I'm so sorry baby", were echoed in the voice of his brother who was valiantly trying to hold the boy still and provide comfort to the struggling baby. 

"Alright baby, ok honey. Shh shh shh, you're ok. It'll be done soon. You're being so good baby boy."

De currently felt like all of his insides were on fire. He could feel his Daddy's grace flowing through him, but instead of feeling warm and peaceful like it usually did, it now felt like it was clawing and ripping at him as it was tugging something inside him. It was one of the most unpleasant things he had ever experienced, and all he could do was cry and try and get away. He knew Daddy said it might not be fun, but Daddy couldn't know just how badly this was hurting. As he cried, his pacifier fell from his mouth as he sobbed his heart out. He began to tug on his blankie, wanting it closer so he could bury himself in it - forgetting momentarily that his Daddy was in fact wearing it at the moment. 

As Castiel felt his son's distress increase with each passing moment, his own upset climbed with it until he himself had tears flowing down his cheeks. His voice cracked as he continued his words of comfort and reassurance. 

Eventually, after moments of agonising tension, Castiel felt the marble move to as far as he could get it, and so slowly withdrew his grace, knowing that he could do no more and it was now a waiting game. 

The very second his grace was free, he turned to grab his baby straight up and into his arms in a crushing hug, rocking them both back and forth. He cradled Dean's head right up against his shoulder and let De sob out his distress . He felt De clutching at his tshirt, and sag into his embrace. As he planted kisses to his baby's head and rocked back and forth he continued to speak through his own tears, aware of his brother's gaze upon the both of them. 

"I'm so sorry De. Daddy's so sorry he hurt you. So sorry baby. I know that was horrible but you were so brave. Such a good baby. Daddy loves you so much baby boy. So much."  
Gabriel watched the pair rock for a few moments, then reached over to pat his brother's arm comfortingly before moving off of the sofa to gather his own boy up in his arms. He had just realised that Sammy had at some point during the exchange climbed to his feet and had been watching them with his own tears silently streaming down his face. Gabriel just settled the boy on his hip and carried him from the room and up the stairs to the bedrooms, realising that they would need to have big talk. 

Not having really acknowledged his brother leaving, Castiel just continued to try and soothe his baby. Eventually, as De's sobs died down to sniffles, Cas became aware of a wet sensation on his shoulder. Glancing down, he couldn't help but chuckle to realise that De had completely conked out - exhausted from his latest crying fit - and had begun suckling on a piece of the t-shirt that had somehow worked its way into his mouth. 

Wiping his own tears from his cheeks, Castiel adjusted De so that he had a leg either side of his lap and could rest comfortably against his chest, before settling back to rest against the sofa cushions as De napped. After all the boy had been through, he deserved to have a little sleep. He would need it. Especially as there were still trials left to face.


	9. Sammy and Daddy talk time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel comforts his very upset little boy, then they have a serious talk

Upstairs, in his son's bedroom Gabriel held Sammy as he sobbed out his feelings into his shoulder. At the moment it was a continuous stream of words pouring forth as Gabe stroked down the long brown hair, offering what comfort he could. 

"De was screaming Daddy and he was crying and it was hurting him Daddy! You had to hold him tight and he was wiggling so much and no one would tell me what was going on! *sobs* Why was my De hurting so much Da-addy? And Uncle Cas was crying too! I didn't like it Daddy! I didn't like it and no one was listening to me when I asked what was going on! *sobs* My De was hurt Daddy! Is he going to be sick again? De was crying so much!"

"I know buddy. I know. He's ok now though I promise. Uncle Cas and Daddy were making it better and I know it hurt De a little bit, but he'll get better now I promise. I promise buddy. De will be alright. I know. That was horrible. I know. And I'm sorry we didn't talk to you, but we were busy with De. I know that's not a good excuse, but we were busy making De better. I'm so sorry you thought we weren't listening Sammy. I never meant to make you feel like that."

As Gabriel continued to hold his sobbing boy, he felt warm wetness begin to pool in his lap. 

It seemed like Sammy had had an accident. 

This happened very rarely, as Sammy was proud of his ability to make it to the potty on time. Though the boy did occasionally wear pull-ups, it wasn't very often, as Sammy preferred to have patterned cotton big-boy underwear on. Today, was unfortunately a day where Sammy had not worn a pull up, so the wetness was spreading all over his trousers and onto Gabriel. Gabe grimaced as he felt it - not because he cared at all, but because he knew that having an accident would just add to his boy's upset. 

For the moment though, instead of dealing with the accident - that Sam seemed not to have noticed yet - he just continued to work at getting his boy calmed down. 

It took quite a while, but eventually Sammy calmed down enough to sag in his Daddy's arms, exhausted over his bout of emotion. 

Once Sammy had calmed down enough, Gabriel tipped his head in order to see into his little boy's eyes. "Are you ok now little man?" he asked kindly.

Giving a huge sniff and running his sleeve under his nose to wipe away a small drip Sammy said "Yeah. 'm okay Daddy" in a very small voice, obviously trying to draw himself together. 

"Here now, don't do that!" Gabriel exclaimed, grabbing a tissue, "That's just gross dude! Here, now blow", and he helped Sammy to blow his nose, before throwing the tissue away.  
Sammy just giggled as his Daddy made an exaggerated yucky face as he disposed of the tissue. Sometimes his Daddy could be so silly!

Smiling a little now that he could see that Sammy was cheering up a little, he steeled himself for what he knew he must now do, which would probably upset his son all over again. Lifting his boy's chin slightly, so that he could look deep into the brown eyes, Gabriel said "Now Sammy, please don't worry, but you had a little accident. We need to go and get you cleaned up buddy. Let's go to the bathroom huh?"

Glancing down to see the dark stain on his trousers, and suddenly feeling the dampness, Sammy blushed bright red and began to sniffle again as tears threatened to make a reappearance. 

"But! But! I didn't mean to! I'm sorry Daddy! I didn't mean to wet myself! I'm really sorry Daddy!"

Sammy was so embarrassed! He was supposed to be a big boy! Big boy's don't wet themselves! This was awful! But what was even worse was the fact that he had now made more work for his Daddy, 'coz he would need help to get cleaned up! And Daddy was so busy helping Uncle Cas look after poorly baby De, he really didn't need any more problems.  
It was this last thought that made Sammy break down into quiet tears again. 

"Hey buddy. It's ok really. Please don't worry Sammy. All little boys have accidents at some point. We'll just clean ourselves up and everything will be fine. Don't cry sweetheart" Gabriel said as he carried Sammy into the bathroom. Setting him down on the floor, he began the process of stripping his boy out of the wet clothes. 

"But, but I made a mess and now you have to help me and you are already busy helping Uncle Cas today! Baby De needs lots of help today Daddy!" Sammy sniffled as he allowed his Daddy to begin cleaning him up, seeing as he was now free of his wet trousers and underwear. 

Startled at this admission from his son, Gabriel stopped his ministrations and immediately swept his boy into his arms and then perched him on his lap in a big hug. Seems like they needed another big talk. 

"Now listen up Sammy, because this is very important. I will never, ever not have time for you. Do you understand?" As Sammy gave him a small nod, Gabe continued "Good. Because I know I have been busy helping Uncle Cas out with De today, but you are my boy and you come first. Any time you need me and I will be there just as soon as I can. I am never too busy for you buddy. Never. You never ever have to worry about making to much work for me. It just isn't possible ok."

Sammy listened closely to his Daddy as he settled into the embrace. he didn't care that he was half naked at the moment, what his Daddy was saying was important. He nodded as his Daddy finished his speech, happy that Daddy would be there for him. 

Gabriel kept going however. "Besides, you couldn't help having an accident, so don't worry about it. It's more my fault than yours anyway as I forgot to remind you to go potty today. My fault buddy. So no more tears or worrying ok?" As Sammy didn't answer, he pressed further "Ok?"

"Yeah Daddy" Sammy agreed, squeezing his Daddy back when he was hugged tight. He felt much better now. 

Getting up again and continuing cleaning Sammy up, Gabriel asked kindly, "Do you want to have a pull up Sammy? Just in case? If you don't that's fine."

Thinking over his options, and really not wanting to have another accident, Sammy agreed, and raised his feet to step into the pull up pants his Daddy held open for him. As they were pulled up around his waist, Sammy felt a sense of security that his regular underwear didn't provide. He didn't wear these all of the time, but it always felt nice and safe when he did. 

Soon, after going into Daddy's bedroom, so that the angel could also change his clothes, Sammy found himself back in his own room, sat on the bed as his Daddy put him in a new clean pair of trousers and new socks. That felt better. Then, Daddy sat down next to Sammy and looked very serious again. 

"Now Sammy, I know we have had a lot of serious talks today, but I'm afraid we are going to need to have another one."

Curious, and having no idea what his Daddy would need to talk to him about now, Sammy replied "Okay Daddy" and tucked himself nicely under the arm that Gabriel had wrapped around his arms. 

"Okay. Before I start Sammy, I want you to know that you are not in trouble. That is very important Sammy. Do you understand me?" Gabriel said, looking seriously at his boy.  
Becoming worried, Sammy nodded mutely and let his Daddy continue. 

"Good. Sammy, what happened earlier when I asked you to tidy up your toys before we went for our walk? All your soldiers and paper and marbles" Gabriel prompted gently. He in no way wanted Sammy to feel responsible for what had taken place that day, but he did want him to realise how important it was for him to tidy up his things properly. This whole thing could have been avoided if only that had happened. 

"I tidied up Daddy" Sammy said, confused. He had!

"Did you Sammy? I know you put most of the toys away, but downstairs, I found lots of marbles all over the floor. Were they supposed to be there?"

"Oh." Sammy lowered his head to study his socked feet. He had tidied up, but he remembered dropping lots of them all over the floor. He had forgotten them until now. But Daddy said he wasn't in trouble, so why were they having the big talk?

"Yeah. They weren't supposed to be there were they. Now remember that none of this is your fault and you aren't in trouble ok, but unfortunately, De managed to get hold of one of your marbles that rolled over to the playpen. That's why he's had a tummy ache all day I'm afraid" Gabriel explained gently, watching his son for a reaction. 

Gasping and looking at his Daddy in alarm, Sammy rushed out "De eated one of my marbles? I made De really poorly by not putting my toys away?"

Squeezing his son tight Gabriel quickly responded "No no no Sammy. You didn't make De ill. It was just an accident and no one is to blame. I know you didn't mean for De to get the marbles, and I'm sure that De didn't mean to eat a marble. it just happened. You didn't make De ill ok. You need to listen to me Sammy. You did not make De ill buddy. Everything that happened was just a bad accident". 

"But, but if I had put my things away properly it wouldn't have happened so its my fault!" Sammy demanded, standing up suddenly and stamping his foot on the floor. His worry was coming out as anger now as he didn't know what to do.

"Sammy. It was an accident ok! Please. It is not your fault and I know you would never ever hurt Dean. Ever. Please Sammy. Listen to Daddy" Gabriel pleaded, holding his son's hand to keep him close. 

"It was my marble Daddy! I made De all poorly and he was sick!"

"Sammy!" Gabriel shouted, only to get his boy's attention. As soon as Sammy stopped rambling he continued more gently. "Listen to Daddy. None of this is your fault. You did not make De poorly. Yes, it was your marble on the floor, but you didn't make De put it in his mouth did you? You didn't make him swallow it did you?" he asked.

"No Daddy" Sammy said quietly, finally listening to his Daddy, having been startled by the shout.

"Exactly. You would never hurt your brother. Please don't feel bad Sammy. It was just an accident. I'm only telling you so that you can be more careful with your toys in the future ok? Uncle Cas and I need to be more watchful of Dean when he is this little as he just puts anything in his mouth. De doesn't realise he is doing it most of the time, which is why we only give him the toys which are safe for him to have. It isn't his fault as he didn't know what he was doing, and it is not your fault as no one knew this was going to happen. Do you understand Sammy?" Gabriel asked kindly as he finished his explanation. 

Still a little unsure, but thinking hard about what his Daddy had said, Sammy nodded slowly saying "Yeah Daddy. I understand."

"Good" Gabriel said firmly, then pulled his son back towards him. "Now come here Sammy. Give me a hug". With that he allowed Sammy to crash against him as they hugged each other tight. Gabriel patted his son on the back as he felt him relax further into him. 

After a few minutes, Gabriel pushed his son back up and suggested "Shall we go and see how Uncle Cas and your brother are doing little man? I bet De would love to see his big brother right about now?"

"Yeah Daddy. I want to go see De now" Sammy said, offering his Daddy a small smile. 

"Well let's go then" Gabe said, and, taking his little boy's hand, they started to make their way down the stairs and back to the family room.

===============

 

When Gabriel and Sammy entered the family room, it was to the sight of Castiel rhythmically patting at De's diapered bottom as he cradled his son close. Dean was still straddling Cas's lap, but instead of suckling on the shoulder of his Daddy's t-shirt, Cas had managed to slip a pacifier into his sleeping babe's mouth. 

Smiling at the newly arrived pair, Castiel raised a finger to his lips to indicate that they should remain quiet, but did still beckon them close. "How's things going guys?" he whispered as soon as they had drawn near enough. 

"Good" Gabe whispered back and reached out his free hand to stroke carefully over the sleeping baby's hair, which prompted a lazy suck of pacifier and a contented sigh. "How are you both?"

"We're ok, thank you. I think all of the tears have tired him out. Sleep is probably the best thing at the moment, though I may regret letting him nap for so long tonight when he doesn't want to go to bed" Castiel smirked ruefully. He then looked carefully over his nephew who appeared to be being shy. The poor boy was standing half hidden behind his Daddy and he was clutching at his hand tightly.

"Sammy? Have you gone all shy on me little man?" he asked kindly, but frowned when Sammy just shrank back further behind his Daddy. Looking up, he silently asked for an explanation from his older brother. 

"I think he's feeling worried that he made De ill because he left some marbles on the floor earlier. I've already told him that this isn't anyone's fault, but I'm not sure he believes me just yet" Gabriel explained sadly as he tugged his hand free from his son's death grip, only to fling his arm over the tall man's shoulders to draw him in for another hug. 

"Oh Sammy, it's not your fault buddy. Your Daddy's right. It was just an accident. No one is to blame. No one is upset with you, I promise" Cas said, freeing a hand from supporting Dean to reach for his nephew, who did take the offered hand and allowed himself to be drawn closer, though not out of his Daddy's embrace. 

"'m sorry Uncle Cas" Sammy whispered sorrowfully. 

"Oh buddy. You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. Do you understand? We love you honey." Cas said, rubbing his thumb back and forth over the hand he held tight. 

Sammy however, was in need of one more bit of reassurance. "Is De gonna be mad at me?" he asked hesitantly. 

Both angels immediately burst with words of comfort and frantically told the boy just how wrong that statement was. Sammy listened, but still didn't seem to be taking the message in. 

"I know. Lets prove to you that De absolutely adores you. Sit down here Sammy" Cas nodded to the corner of the sofa. As soon as the boy was settled, Castiel began to manoeuvre De to lay him down in Sammy's lap. Gabriel helped to move Sammy's arms so that he was supporting Dean's head comfortably, then moved back out of the way. Once Sammy had a good hold on his son, Castiel moved a bit further away, but stayed close enough so that he could still be in contact with De - not wanting to be too far away in case the boy woke up and needed him suddenly. 

As soon as Dean was transferred, he began to wiggle himself into a comfy sleeping position, remaining sleep the whole while. It was obvious that the boy felt safe as he turned to nuzzle himself into his brother's chest, and raised a hand to twist into the fabric of the jumper the other boy was wearing. As soon as he was comfortable, De smacked his lips around his pacifier a few times before settling back down into a deeper sleep again. 

"There" Castiel whispered, smiling fondly at the two brothers. "I don't think he'd snuggle up with someone he was upset at do you?" Castiel asked. 

This, finally seemed to reach Sammy and he looked up and beamed at the two angels, before going back to studying his little brother's face. He found himself particularly fascinated by the many freckles spread all across De's face - they were so much clearer now he was this close!

Gabriel watched the heart warming scene before him, before making a suggestion. "I think that we are all in need of a good rest. Seeing as you two are stuck under a baby, how about I put on a film and we can all have a relaxing time watching it?"

This suggestion was met with happy exclamations of agreement, and so Gabriel moved over to their small collection of movies and scanned the collection. "Hmm, how do you feel about Minions? Or maybe How To Train Your Dragon?"

"Dragon! Dragon!" Sammy bounced slightly, wobbling De slightly in his arms. As the sleeping baby made a small moan of protest he immediately settled down, giving his Daddy a sheepish grin, before whispering "Dragon please Daddy?"

Laughing at the abrupt change of pace and mood, Gabriel slid the selection into the DVD player, before coming over to sit next to his little brother on the sofa. 

As the theme music began to play, the family basked in the security of being around each other.


	10. No more marbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very happy De wakes up from his nap. Sometime later, no more marbles are to be found in baby boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter!  
> So, I really don't know if this chapter is my favourite, or the next one. I think they both have really awesome moments and I am proud of them. Let me know what you think!

Around about half way through the movie, De began to wiggle more frequently as he battled his way towards wakefulness. He could feel that he was being held in strong warm arms and he could hear a heartbeat underneath him that was at once familiar and odd at the same time. It definitely wasn't his Daddy holding him, but he found he didn't mind that as he felt completely safe. 

Yawning widely, De sucked strongly on his pacifier when his mouth closed, then worked on prying his reluctant eyes open. They felt really dry and gritty, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. 

As soon as his eyes were open, he found himself looking across at his smiling Daddy's face which seemed much too far away. Daddy seemed to be located somewhere by his knees, but he was at least here. It also confirmed his theory that it wasn't his Daddy holding on to him. 

"Hey there sleepy boy! There's those beautiful green eyes!" Daddy cooed to De, and De blinked tiredly back at him. He was much too tired and confused to speak at the moment! He was figuring out a puzzle despite just having woken up. Couldn't Daddy see that? He would need to have words with Daddy later though - why was there a big mark on his blankie? There it was, right over Daddy's shoulder. Honestly, De wouldn't let Daddy borrow blue blanket any more if that was the way Daddy was going to look after his special treasure. 

Back to the puzzle at hand however. The arm holding his head shifted weirdly - not in the confident manner De had come to recognise from when Daddy or Uncle Gabe was holding him. Maybe Uncle Gabe was being weird again though. De wouldn't put it past him. 

Realising that his eyes had drifted closed again, De knew that he would have to pry them open in order to solve the mystery of who exactly had him. Sucking his pacifier faster in an effort to build up the strength to open them, De eventually got his eyes open again, and looked straight up. Straight up into the warm, brown, kind eyes of his Sammy.

Sammy! Sammy was holding him! Of course! That's where De knew that heartbeat from! It was his Sammy! Yeah, Sammy would always keep him safe. He had never woken up to his Sammy holding him before though, this was awesome!

De squirmed happily and heard himself give a happy squeal of excitement. Sammy! He reached a hand up to begin patting Sammy's face, telling him just how happy he was to see him. De felt like he hadn't actually seen Sammy in forever and he had missed him!

Sammy just laughed and said "Hi De" through his giggles. And weren't those fun? They made Sammy's whole body shake underneath him and it felt funny.

De couldn't help but laugh as he exclaimed "Shmammy!" - ok it had come out a bit mangled because of his pacifier, but he was pretty sure that everyone got the jist. 

As Sammy laughed more though, De was distracted by something much more interesting. Right next to where his hand was still touching his brother's face, a long piece of hair was dangling over Sammy's face and it looked really, really soft. 

De needed to touch it. Needed to. Right now. 

So, moving his hand over, De closed his fingers over the bit of Sammy's hair. And it was just as soft as he thought it would be! No one else De knew had hair as long as Sammy. De knew that Big Dean thought Sammy's hair was silly sometimes and that Big Dean wanted it to come off. But not De! He thought his Sammy's hair was amazing! To prove a point - mostly to himself, De began to play with the hair, all of his attention instantly focused on his activity. 

Everyone else on the sofa was chuckling at the antics of the clearly happy baby. "Look like he's feeling better then" Gabriel commented, happily watching the two boy's at the end of the sofa interact. It really was lovely to watch. 

"It would appear so" Castiel replied as he stroked up and down his baby's leg from where it was draped all over his lap. Very subtly he performed a diaper check and decided that his baby was fine for the time being. Glancing back over to where the action was taking place, Castiel winced as he saw De give a particularly strong tug to his brother's hair. 

Sammy giggled and continued to chat to the baby on top of him, but couldn't actually free a hand to stop De if needed, as both were being used to hold Dean safely. "Do you think we should intervene?" Cas asked his brother.

"You mean before your son snatches my son bald? Probably" Gabriel laughed as he saw De begin to lean upwards in order to get the lock of Sammy's hair into his mouth alongside his pacifier. 

"De! Stop! My hair isn't for eating" Sammy laughed, though he did try to keep his head up and out of the reach of his baby brother. 

De, totally ignored his brother. He just needed to see what Sammy's hair tasted like. Probably really good actually. However, before he could continue dragging Sammy's hair closer to his mouth, he found fingers prying his own apart and off of Sammy's hair. Hey! That's not fair!

De looked around to see his Daddy attempting to stifle laughter as he succeeded in freeing Sammy's hair. Hey! De needed that! De opened his mouth to inform his Daddy of this, but ended up squealing in shock as suddenly hands grabbed at him and swung him up and into the air - where he was being dangled. 

Uncle Gabe! Uncle Gabe had De and was holding him above his head as if De was some kind of…. some kind of dingle-dangle! De didn't know what he was like at the moment, but he knew he didn't appreciate being ripped from his Sammy like that. 

"Nooo! No 'Ncl' Gabe! No! Shmammy! Shmammy!" he garbled out a protest, telling his Uncle exactly what he thought about his current predicament. 

Uncle Gabe just laughed at De however, and lowered De down so that he could blow raspberries on his tummy! No! That wasn't playing fair at all! De exploded with laughter as the tickling sensation spread all throughout him and he kicked out his legs in order to escape. "Noooo! Nooo! Ahhh! Noooo!" he laughed, completely unable to escape his crazy Uncle.

Absolutley no one was coming to help - they were all completely useless! Traitors!

De reversed his opinion not a moment later as he felt himself being plucked out of Gabriel's grasp and settled onto the hip of his Daddy. De took it all back. Daddy was awesome! Daddy had saved him! De showed his thanks by gripping onto Daddy tightly and hiding away from Uncle Gabe in his Daddy's shoulder. 

"Gabriel! Don’t wind him up!" Castiel scolded, though the grin he sported totally ruined any effect his words might have had.

"What?!" Gabriel replied teasingly. "That was payback! He was trying to eat my Sammy up, and I needed to save him!"

"Ok, ok, well now I'm saving my baby from you! I'm going to get this boy fed, then we'll come back and watch the rest of the film with you guys alright?" Castiel stated happily as he began to make his way towards the kitchen, noting the agreeable responses he had gained from the once again happily laughing father and son pair he had left behind. 

The atmosphere in the kitchen was a lot calmer than the wired atmosphere that they had just left in the family room. Castiel plucked a ready made bottle of formula from the fridge, and placed it in the bottle warmer to get ready. 

Looking up from his one handed task, Castiel saw that De had emerged from where he had been hiding in his shoulder and was now looking at him, smiling contentedly from behind where his pacifier was being worked steadily. 

"Hi baby," Castiel greeted, planting a kiss on his baby's nose, "you seem a lot happier after your little nap. Does your tummy still hurt?"

Shaking his head, De answered "No Daddy". That was one of the reasons he was so happy. No more tummy ows! Whatever Daddy had done had obviously worked, coz all of the owies were gone. Though De now had a new problem. "Hungry Daddy" he stated, then looked longingly at the bottle nestled in the warmer on the counter. De sure hoped it would be ready soon. He was starving! He remembered that all his lunch had come back out of him earlier, and breakfast had been forever ago!

"Well that's good sweetie. And we'll get you fed in just a moment. Your bottle's nearly ready baby" Castiel said, beginning to sway his baby gently from side to side, in their usual rocking motion. He hadn't realised just how much he had missed his happy smiling baby today. It was nice to have him back. 

Unfortunately, Cas knew there was just one more thing to get in the way of ending the day on a high note. Cas didn't mind, but he knew that Dean might have an issue with it. 

Deciding to deal with the problem upstairs, Cas grabbed the now ready bottle, and carried his boy out of the room and up to the nursery. 

Settling down on the rocker and making De comfortable, Cas placed the bottle on the nearby table to cool for just a moment while he talked to his baby. Though he had to laugh as he saw his baby watch every move he made with the bottle with eager hungry eyes. That boy and food. Honestly. 

Tapping the boy's nose to gain his attention, Cas kicked the rocker into motion as he waited for De to meet his gaze. As soon as the baby was looking at him, Cas began his little chat.

"De? I'm glad your tummy is feeling better baby. That makes Daddy very happy! But can you remember what made it feel hurty?"

Dean shook his head mutely, waiting for his Daddy to continue. It didn't really matter anyway, Daddy had fixed the problem. 

"No? Ok. Well it was a marble honey. It seems that at some point you swallowed a marble and that was making all of your tummy feel really painful as it went through you. Now, Daddy managed to move the marble quicker so that it wouldn't keep hurting you, but the marble is still somewhere inside you baby" Cas explained, as simply as he could - unsure just how much Dean would take in in his regressed mindset.

De nodded along again. Now that he thought about it, he did remember his Daddy saying something about this earlier, but wasn't really sure what the point was. He cast a longing glance to his bottle waiting on the table - he was really hungry now!

"I know you're hungry baby. I'll feed you in a moment. Keep listening please?" Castiel asked, once again drawing De's attention back his way. Eyes back on him, Cas continued. "Now, because the marble is still inside you, it still needs to come out. It's going to come out the next time you need to go poop De. That make sense?"

De guessed so. It had to come out somehow. He nodded again. 

Now came the hard part for Cas. "Ok baby. Now, Daddy needs to know that the marble has come out of you, so next time you need to go potty, you are going to go in your diaper ok? Then Daddy can make sure that the marble is all gone from inside of you." Cas braced for the impact his words might have on De. 

Since the age play had began, diapers had been the biggest area of concern for Dean. When it became obvious that Dean had a baby's headspace when he regressed, Castiel pressed the issue of diapers - wanting Dean to be able to completely depend on him for any needs he had. He had also had the suspicion that Dean would feel secure in them, and that dealing with diapers would be one further way for Cas to show, and for Dean to accept the love that he desperately needed through the process of cleaning and caring.  
Eventually, Dean had accepted the diapers, and had begun to use them regularly - to the point that he was often unaware that he was wetting anymore until either his diaper was wet, or someone whisked him away for a change. But one issue that Dean refused to budge on was the matter of 'messing' in his diaper. For that, he made it clear to Castiel that he needed to go potty, and Castiel would take him. Castiel always assisted him on the potty and did clean up after his boy, but Dean would not go in his diaper.

Messing had happened on a couple of occasions - but always outside of Dean's control - either when he was too ill, or had been too injured on a hunt (and then gone to his little headspace) for him to make it to the toilet in time. Each time, Castiel had cleaned up without complaint - completely fine with dealing with dirty diapers, but it was a very rare occurrence. 

Castiel was aware that he was asking for a lot to make De use his diaper for that purpose now, but he would need to check closely to make sure that the marble had cleared his baby's system. 

De, immediately became tense on Castiel's lap and blushed a brilliant shade of red. No! He didn't want that! He didn't use his diaper for that! That was icky! Daddy knew De didn't like to mess his diaper - especially on purpose! They didn't do that! But Daddy looked very serious right now. De thought he knew how this was going to end, but he protested anyway.

De pushed at Daddy's chest and whined "Nooo! No Diaper!" He had even spat out his pacifier in order to make sure he was clear. 

"Yes diaper" Castiel said seriously, though made sure his tone was gentle. He knew how much of an issue it was for his boy. "Yes diaper because Daddy needs to see if the marble comes out when you go. It will be much easier and less messy if Daddy can see in your diaper rather than the potty" he explained. 

Cas gave his boy some time to voice his protests and to whine and moan, but he was standing firm on the issue. It was for the benefit of his baby's health after all. "It'll be fine De. I promise. I know you don't like it, but Daddy doesn't mind changing dirty diapers. I've told you this before. It'll be fine honey. It's only until the marble comes out, then I promise Daddy will take you to the potty again if you need to do poos."

Although his face was still burning with embarrassment, De knew realistically that Daddy was not going to back down on this. It would be absolutely horrible, but De knew he had no choice in the matter. Breath hitching slightly, De said "Okay Daddy. Diaper. But then no more!" De needed to get that warning in for his own piece of mind. 

Kissing his forehead, Castiel crooned softly "Daddy promises De. Daddy promises. Once the marble comes out, we'll go to the potty again. I know that was a hard choice, but Daddy is very proud of you baby boy." Reaching over to retrieve the bottle that was now at a perfect temperature, Cas asked "Now how about some food? Does that sound good?" and showed the bottle to the boy who - although still blushing profusely - had relaxed in his arms again and who was eying the bottle with interest. 

Giving no answer, but opening his mouth wide and lifting a hand to help pull the bottle forward, De hummed in contentment the moment the nipple hit his tongue. Suckling quickly, De soon settled himself into a comfortable nursing rhythm, drinking down the warm milky formula. 

Chuckling Castiel said "I guess that's my answer", and settled back to feed his baby. 

De watched his Daddy carefully as he was being fed, but found his thoughts turning to his bottle. It really was yummy. And warm! Man, De had been so hungry, but now he could feel his tummy filling up again. This was so nice!

A few minutes had passed, where De was content to nurse his bottle and enjoy the motion of the rocker as his Daddy held him close. He let out happy little hums and coos around his bottle to let his Daddy know just how happy he was at the moment. 

Soon however, he felt a familiar rumble in his tummy and knew what was going to happen soon. Usually, he would have held it until after his bottle and then asked Daddy to take him to the potty, but given that that wasn't an option, De decided to just get things over with. The sooner the horrible thing happened the better. 

So, feeling his face heating right back up, De tried to focus his attention completely on his bottle as he let nature take its course. It was absolutely horrible and De hated the sensations coming from his diaper, but De just suckled harder at his bottle, trying to bury his shame in the more pleasant feeling of his delicious drink. 

Castiel, noticing what was going on immediately, just murmured words of comfort and encouraged his boy to keep drinking his bottle. He wasn't fazed in the slightest by what was going on, but wanted to ease the situation in any way he could for his baby.

"It's ok De. Just keep drinking your bottle. I know you're hungry baby boy, keep drinking all your yummy milk up. That's it. Daddy will take care of everything. As soon as you are done with your bottle, Daddy will take care of everything. And then I have a nice surprise in mind that I need your help for. We'll need to get Sammy's help too. Do you think he'll come and help up?" 

Castiel kept talking, trying to distract his clearly upset little boy as he continued to feed him. De seemed to be as calm as he could be at the moment, a few tears leaking from scrunched up green eyes, a quickening of breath and a bright red blushing face were the only indications that things were wrong however. 

As soon as De had finished sucking down the last remnants of his bottle, Castiel stopped the rocker and took De straight to the changing table, laying him down and beginning to undo buttons on the boy's sleeper right away. 

As De's breath hitched, Castiel pushed a clean pacifier back into the boy's mouth and handed him a nearby toy to fiddle with. Although the pacifier was accepted and frantically suckled on, the toy was mostly ignored, but was clutched very tightly. 

Peeling back the front of the diaper, Cas took a quick peep into the mess waiting inside and - lo and behold - there was definitely something there that didn't belong. Knowledge that his baby was now free of foreign objects, Castiel began to clean his baby up as quickly and as thoroughly as he could, continually reassuring his boy the whole time. 

"That's it baby. It's all over now. No more marbles in baby boy's tummies. Yay! You're free baby! It's all done! You've been such a good boy sweetheart. Daddy is so proud of you baby. I love you so much De."

In next to no time, Cas was done and a clean and fresh smelling De was being buttoned back into his sleeper. When that was done, Cas grabbed hold of his baby and pulled him straight into his arms, hugging him close. "There we go baby. All done. All done" he sighed as he swayed his baby again. He felt De twisting his fingers into his t-shirt, gaining comfort and holding him close. "It's all over baby."


	11. A treat for Uncle Gabe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the trials of the day, Castiel decided that Gabriel deserves a treat for all that he has done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are. At the end of this little piece of the 'verse. Hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it!
> 
> So, I kind of felt that Gabriel was the hero of this story. He was the one who held everything together and found all of the solutions and I felt he needed to be appreciated. So - have a small chapter of shameless fluff to end the piece! Actually, I needed it after all the trauma I feel I have inflicted on this family this time around!
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy, and as always, please review! Send along any prompts and I will take a look. It might take forever to get back to you as I have several others I need to work on, as well as my own ideas, but I will have a look!
> 
> Hope to see you soon when I add to this little 'verse!

Horrible experience over, and comfort gained, Castiel whispered a suggestion in his baby's ear "So, how do you feel about making something extra special for Uncle Gabe to say thank you for all he has done for us today?"

Dean beamed and started to bounce happily on his Daddy's hip. He was so happy now that he was a clean baby again. And now he got to help make a surprise? That sounded awesome! He loved Uncle Gabe and De would get to help do something special for him! Though one thing could possibly make it better. "Sammy?" he asked his Daddy as they began to make their way down the stairs. 

"Yep. We're going to get Sammy to help us too!" Cas cheered, bouncing his baby in his arms, ecstatic that his happy baby was back and that all of the drama of the day appeared to be over. 

Walking into family room, he had to act quickly to prevent another disaster however, for as soon as they crossed the thresh-hold De decided to shout "Sammy! Su'p'ise!", flinging his arms about happily. 

Shushing his boy and quietly reminding him that he wasn't supposed to tell Uncle Gabe about the surprise Castiel smiled at the other occupants of the room who looked curious but happy to see the baby who was obviously in a good mood. 

"Oooh! What’s the surprise Cassie?" Gabe asked, aware that Cas was hiding something, but not what. 

"Oh. Nothing. It's just that De wasn't supposed to tell you just yet is all" Cas covered quickly before making his tone extra enthusiastic. "We have good news! All baby boys are now marble free!"

Everyone cheered and laughed happily as they celebrated the good news, Gabe throwing his hands up in celebration which caused De to begin clapping happily from where he was still perched on his Daddy's hips. Then, he remembered that he had a surprise to make and so he wiggled until his Daddy put him down. 

Toddling over to Sammy, he grabbed his big brother's hand and began to tug the boy in the direction of the kitchen. He had to grunt in effort as Sammy didn't seem to want to move very far. "Ah! Sammy!" he whined, tugging on the arm he had captured.

"De?" Sammy asked as he was being pulled away gently from where he had been playing happily. "Where we goin'?" Sammy looked about at the adults for guidance, though he allowed his baby brother to tug at him a little bit.

Castiel decided to take pity on the poor boy and asked Gabriel "Do you mind if me and De borrow Sammy for a minute Gabriel? De has something he really wants to show his brother".

Nodding his consent, though aware that he was missing something Gabriel agreed. "By all means. I'm not getting in the way of the baby when he's that determined" Gabriel joked.  
"Thank you Gabriel" Castiel added, then scooped his son back up, to spare his nephew's poor arm from being tugged off. Dean just squealed and wiggled in his arms, completely over excited and wanting to get down, but Cas held him firm. "Come on Sammy" he called, then toted his struggling boy out into the kitchen before plopping him down onto the floor. 

"Uncle Cas? What's going on?" Sammy asked, completely confused. He was looking between the hyper baby and his uncle, clearly searching for an explanation for what was happening. 

"Well Sammy, De and I had a thought. To thank your Daddy for all he has done today - looking after all of us, and finding out what was wrong with De, we think he should get a treat. What do you think?"

Instantly becoming just as excited as his brother, Sammy began to bounce on his feet. That sounded amazing! His Daddy totally deserved an amazing treat! He was the best Daddy in the whole world after all! Shouting Sammy replied "Yeah! That's awesome Uncle Cas!", before being hushed instantly.

"Shhh! It's supposed to be a surprise!" Castiel scolded gently, no real censure in his tone at all. In fact he was grinning from ear to ear at watching the excited children. 

Slapping his hands over his mouth to stop any more outbursts Sammy then had to take them off again in order to ask "What are we going to do for a treat?"

"Well I was thinking ice cream. What do you two think?" Cas asked, preparing himself for the explosion.

"Yeah!" both boy's shouted, instantly forgetting that they were supposed to be being secretive. 

"Ok then, let's get to work" Cas said as he led both boys to begin pulling supplies out of the freezer. 

============  
In the family room, all Gabriel could hear were peals of laughter and giggles with the occasional attempt at getting quiet from Castiel. 

Smiling, Gabriel waited patiently, ready for when his family members came back. Something was going on, but he had no idea what it could be. Still, judging from the apparent hilarity he could hear, it was probably pretty good, so he was content to wait. 

============

A short time later, it looked like some kind of explosion had taken place in the kitchen. 

For half a moment, Cas debated whether it had been wise to let the brother's loose on the items now littering every surface available, but then dismissed it because they had clearly enjoyed themselves. After the horrible day they had just all had, a little bit (or a lot) of mess was worth it. 

Balancing his baby on his hip, Castiel helped Sammy to balance the absolutely enormous bowl of ice cream they had assembled on tray. Then, walking together, they started to work their way back into the family room. 

Cas and Sammy's task was not helped by the fact that De could not stay still from where he was perched. He was wiggling and clapping in his excitement, causing Cas to work extra hard to keep the tray from tipping over. Still, no one was about to tell the baby to stop it. It was just too nice to see him this happy. 

Gabriel looked up from where he had once more taken a seat on the sofa, and felt his jaw drop as he took in the sight in front of him. Wiggling baby on his hip, his little brother was helping Sammy to bring in possibly the biggest bowl of ice cream he had ever seen. The messiest one too!

Each and every member of his small family was covered in some kind of desert. 

Cas appeared to have ice cream smeared all over his top and a large swipe of it across his forehead. 

De was covered head to toe in what looked to be every kind of sprinkle known to mankind.

And his Sammy? His Sammy had syrup literally dripping from his hair, and covering all over his clothes in weird stripy wiggles. 

As they approached and set the desert on the table, Gabriel managed to regain his voice. "What. On. Earth. Were you doing in there?!"

But before he could ask any more questions or take in any more of them, Gabriel found himself with an arm full of Sammy, and then a second later, Dean. 

"Surprise!" Sammy shouted. 

"'Pize!" came De's echoed shout.

"It's 'surprize' De! Not 'Pies'" Gabriel heard his son lecturing the baby, despite the fact that he often managed to mangle words. 

De seemed not to care as he just shouted again "'Pize!" and threw his arms back around his uncle's neck. 

Hugging the boys close for a second before pulling away slightly Gabriel asked again "I repeat. What on earth has been going on?!"

Coming to kneel down next to the small coffee table Castiel smiled at his brother fondly and quietly began his explanation. "It's just something small to say thank you for all you have done today Gabriel. You've held absolutely everyone together today, and I for one don't know what I would have done without you. So, thank you Gabe. I mean it."

Touched by his brother's words, Gabriel tried to convey just how little the thanks were needed, but just how much they meant to him through a long connected look. "Any time little brother. Anytime" he said quietly, voice filled with emotion. 

Soon however, his attention was pulled back to the squirming boys he held in his lap. Sammy was chattering away at him and was pulling on his sleeve, trying to direct his attention to the heaped bowl of dessert. 

"Look! Look Daddy! We got all your favourite flavours in there! See! look there's the chocolate one, but it's a little bit covered up by the whipped cream! Oh! Oh! And there's the caramel and there's the rum 'n' raisin even though that one's icky! We made it for you Daddy 'coz you are the bestest Daddy ever!"

"Oh wow Sammy! It looks amazing! Did you do the syrup by any chance?" Gabriel asked as he used a finger to swipe for dripping syrup from his boy's chin. 

"Yeah! I got to do the syrup 'coz I know how much you like it! Uncle Cas said only a little bit, but I added lots and lots!" Sammy rushed out, looking all over the massive treat on the table. Then he added "De did the sprinkles though."

"Sprinkles!" came the happy cheer from the baby bouncing on his leg. It was getting a bit uncomfortable by now - seeing as both boys were over excited and wiggling and bouncing on the same lap. 

Castiel reached out and snagged his boy to put him on his own lap. "Yes. That may have been a mistake" Cas deadpanned with a grin. "He grabbed the tub and just started waving it everywhere. I think we might be finding sprinkles for weeks."

Taking in the sight of his very excited nephew, Gabriel basked in the change from the sobbing boy they had comforted earlier in the day. Looking over his overjoyed younger sibling, he simply asked "Worth it though?"

Receiving a firm smile in return, Castiel just replied. "Worth it."

The small family then started to dig in to Gabriel's treat, determined to savour the moment of joy they had found.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on my tumblr! 
> 
> http://fandomnerdiness.tumblr.com/
> 
> I mostly just re-blog supernatural and other fandom type stuff, but I'm thinking of linking my fics over there as well. 
> 
> Whatever, I'd love to chat, so come say hi!


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